I don't have much experience with jet lag. Mostly, that's because I've hardly flown anywhere. The few times I've gone out to San Diego, I didn't even notice the change at all. Maybe it's because I seem to be able to get by on very little sleep. Five hours seems to do it for me.
Recently, the feeling has crept in that I'm recovering from a more macro-, or calendar-based time lag. Sure, every year we look forward to spring and then somehow fall shows up and we're left with a "How did that happen so fast?" kind of feeling. This year, that shift was accelerated by the extended period of emotional trauma caused by the death of a parent. When I was in the middle of it, it felt like it would never end. After the fact, the experience has shrunk to a point of grief singularity.
I bring this up because this weekend brings back that most hallowed of events: the Guy's Weekend™. Yes, my longtime friend Gene has the house to himself (wife Regina and those insanely cute kids are in Maine) and it's time to pull out the annoyingly loud albums and put our feet up on the coffee table. In a few short hours, I will once again point my car in the direction of upstate New York.
The last time we did this, I had a two-fer of listening pleasure: Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien and Bruce Hornsby's Camp Meeting. When I looked up the date of that weekend, I was shocked to discover that it was almost a year ago.
A year? Really?
It's true. A year has gone by and many, many things have changed. What hasn't changed is our love of music. We will go through a pile of it, beginning with this year's two-fer: The Hold Steady's Stay Positive (because I heard "Sequestered In Memphis" on the radio yesterday morning and it slayed me), and Ry Cooder's I, Flathead. Gene will love the Cooder. It obviously fits next to Chavez Ravine and My Name Is Buddy.
Funny, I always think of Ry Cooder as looking like he did on the front cover of Bop Til You Drop (Gene was always after me to get that record). But... that was how many years ago?
How did that happen?
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Article comments
1 - Mary K. Williams
Hope it's a great time!
2 - Mat Brewster
Jet lag sucks. I've spent the last two weeks trying to get over it. Many nights I wouldn't be able to sleep until the wee hours and then I'd wake up crazy early. Then the next night I'd crash for 12 hours.
Enjoy the manly weekend.