Hiding Out

My iTunes is always set to shuffle. Wilco comes on a lot, and always seems to match the mood. Right now, ‘The Lonely One’ is playing… for the third time. It’s not just that it fits lyrically. Moreover, I’m an acoustic guitar, pedal steel, piano and violin kinda’ lonesome.

The absence of work, a race (tomorrow’s the Staten Island Half Marathon), or studio time, then, finds me pensive. Too pensive. MelAncholy even. And so I roamed the city, cap pulled low over aviators, hiding out.

I had breakfast with Chris, where we began to address the practicality of the ‘New York’ video shoot. I gave him a verbal description of the concept, and promised storyboards within the next few days. We plan on shooting it in earnest on next Sunday morning, before the sun rises. We’ll be done by noon.

And that was the action-packed part of my day. I sat on Chris’ roof, watching him prune shrubs and such. dozed in Sheep’s Meadow. And I watched “Love Liza” (which, when taken together with last night’s DVD rental, “All the Real Girls,” has left me only more melencholy).

So it occurs to me that I keep busy — the records, the tours, the marathons, the mtv — to keep out of my head, to keep from thinking too hard. I feel best when I’m completely in the moment, which usually only occurs a) on stage or b) during a race. And so, today, my persona shrinks away, and my shadow emerges.

Tune back in tomorrow — half marathon, studio — when my shadow is sure to be suppressed again.