Monday morning… It’s all come around far too quickly… Weekends are but a flash in the pan…
Let’s all ease ourselves into the week with this laid-back, gentle folk number from Ryan David Orr. He’s an experienced songwriter on the North American folk scene and in this tune, ‘Margaret’, Orr brings his soothing voice to the fore. I’m reading it as a song about lost opportunities, mistakes that have been made and dreams yet to be realised. There’s something hauntingly positive within as well though and it’s this that makes for a good Monday morning listen.
I asked Ryan (a qualified massage therapist) to tell me an entertaining story about the touring and travelling life he sometimes leads when he’s not living in the home he’s built for himself in the mountains of Arizona.
This past May I had the great pleasure of playing at the Bitter End, legendary music venue in New York City. I was extremely excited and a bit nervous, and parked a couple blocks from the venue after scouring the city for a parking spot. I was right on time to the venue, played my show, checked out the band that played after me, had a great time and then went to pack my gear in the car.
Well, apparently I had parked in a “no parking” zone, and found an empty street where my car had been. I ran my license plate through the NYC database and discovered the car had been towed and was being held by NYPD at one of the pier warehouses. Being from Arizona, I was not happy about the prospect of not having my car until they opened again the following Monday, so I scrambled to get to the pier before they closed. However, all of the taxis that passed me were off duty and I couldn’t get a ride, so I opted to rent a bicycle and ride like hell to make it there in time.
So at about midnight, there I was, out-of-state musician, post performance, buzzed from a few microbrews at the venue, peddling frantically up New York City’s west side to beat the clock. I finally arrived and they informed me that my registration had expired two days earlier and I couldn’t have the car until I was valid. My phone charger was in the car, so with about 2% charge left on my phone, I fumbled to quickly hit up the AZ motor vehicle website and pay my registration. My payment went through literally 30 seconds before my phone died.
So they finally gave me my car, but now I was stuck with this freakin’ bicycle that I had to return to some rental site. So I shoved it in the back, managed to barely close the door, and went searching for the bike drop-off. Got the bike back, went back to the venue, got all my equipment, then finally drove to my friends’ house in Brooklyn for the night, several hours, hundreds of dollars, and a pretty solid bike ride later.
Next time I’m taking a train.
Here’s hoping that your Monday mornings are a bit better than the aftermath of Ryan’s gig at the Bitter End. If you like what you hear within this video then do head across to his website here to listen to more of his music and to find out more.
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