goodbye to all that

new york grief; gigs in washington, d.c., cincinnati (new date!), san francisco, & europe

Hello from Brooklyn, where I’ve been staying now for a week. This is my fourth visit, since moving to Portland, to the city that still lays claim to the bulk of my adult life. Almost exactly twenty years ago, I arrived in Manhattan, all of my worldly possessions packed haphazardly into the juddering U-Haul I’d rented in Providence earlier that day. I lived on the Upper West Side for a year before decamping to Brooklyn for the sixteen that followed. Then came March of 2020, and a week-long trip to the Pacific Northwest became an improvised cross-country move.

My grief at leaving this place behind ebbs and flows. On this trip, I feel most rootless when I find myself amidst a crush of tourists, as I did the other day at Joe’s of Bleecker, waiting for a slice while watching families take photographs of the iconic and ageless pizza joint. The Local Knowledge remains burrowed deep in my brain, but I am no longer a local.

For all of my melancholy, this has been a wonderful visit. I saw an extraordinary piece of theater, as well as one of the most brilliant and singular performances I’ve ever witnessed: Esperanza Spalding and Fred Hersch at the Village Vanguard. I’ve caught up with old friends, plotted future projects, and got to participate in a magical recording session at Electric Lady with Sylvan Esso and Attacca Quartet. (More on that to come…)

As this stay draws to a close, I wanted to send an update as to what’s going on in the coming weeks:

Jan 22 - Magnificent Bird at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. This one is sold out, but is available for streaming.

Jan 25 - The Right to Be Forgotten with Nathalie Joachim, Alex Sopp, Holcombe Waller, moi, and the Cincinnati Symphony. Tickets are here.

Jan 26 - Magnificent Bird at Ghost Baby in Cincinnati. This concert is free, but you must make a reservation here in order to attend.

Feb 2 & 3 - emergency shelter intake form with Alicia Hall Moran, Kristen Toedtman, Holcombe Waller, yours truly, and the San Francisco Symphony. Tickets are here.

March 2-12 - solo tour in Europe.

Apologies for brevity. Must make the most of my time here!

All my best, and a belated happy new year,

Gabriel