Frank Marino

7/31/07 – I got up this morning and ate some leftover pizza for breakfast. It has been months since I have used a microwave so I had nearly forgotten how convenient it is to have one. Andy had snuck out to the airport before I woke up so I was alone again. I took the subway down to the American Museum of Natural History where I spent most of the afternoon. I then walked into Central Park where I took an afternoon nap.

I have been wanting to see a musician named Frank Marino ever since he came to Madison a couple of years ago. I was very excited to learn that he would be playing at BB King’s Blues Club in New York City at the same time that I was in town. I took the subway to the club and was walking to the box office when I was stopped by two scraggly looking fellows. They told me that their buddy couldn’t make it to the show and that I could buy his ticket for $20. They had arrived far longer than me so they had some of the first choices for tables. I accepted this offer and we went to the bar to wait for the doors to open. This was a dinner club so we were seated at tables in front of the stage. On the way in, they gave everyone a very thorough pat down to make sure they were not carrying any contraband. My table was in the second row so I was about fifteen feet from the stage. The cheapest thing on the menu was still very expensive so I ordered a couple of drinks to fulfill the ten dollar minimum purchase per person and took what the door men must have assumed to be a “smoke break.” I walked across the street to McDonalds where I ate a filling meal for five dollars and went back to the club a much happier person. The show started promptly at 8:00pm and lasted about three and a half hours with no intermission. I went to the bathroom at one point and they had a guy in there whose job was to squirt soap on your hands and hand you a paper towel. The show was one of the best I have seen and I had a great time.

After the show, I met up with a friend of mine named Jeff Polley who lives in New York. We went to a couple of bars and he had all sorts of interesting stories about the work he’s been doing recently. We finally parted at about 3:30am and I got on the subway back up to Margo and Andy’s house. I was very tired and it was a long train ride so I fell asleep almost immediately.