Thursday, September 11, 2008

Saturday, 19. July 2008
The heat and humidity are still unbearable. They call it a heat wave on TV. I don't care what the TV says, I call it the worst weather I've ever experienced. For somebody who hates the rain, you can imagine how bad it is when all wish for is some rain to break this friggin' heat down.
Today I manage to ship some packages to a couple of customers in the States. I didn't have the time to do it in Rome and wouldn't want somebody to wait on his records for two months, so I thought: what the heck - I'll just mail them from the States. It's cheaper as well.
Somehow, another person i know through Couchsurfing (visit www.couchsrfing.com) is in NYC right now, so we manage to meet for lunch. The appointment is at Kate's Deli in the East Village.
Emma (my couchsurfing friend) her friend Viktoria and another guy enter the place. We all sit down (the three of them, Peter Ki and I) and start chatting.
The guy introduces himself as Scott. He's about my age, interestingly enough about my height and more interestingly into music as well. So when he says he just came to NYC to visit and he's actually from Louisville, Kentucky I ask him if he knows any of the Louisville HC/Punk bands that I used to listen a lot to and still occasionally do.  Surprisingly enough he does. Endpoint, By the Grace of God, Falling Forward,... are not unfamiliar names for him.
He says he plays in a band too. Which one I ask. Metroschifter, he says back.
Holy cow, Scott F. Ritcher! We met in 1996 in Rome when I organized a show for Metroschifter, Omaha and Washer. Hell, I didn't recognize the guy.
Small world, isn't it?
Scott pulls his blackberry out and, well, his blackberry confirms what I just said. Autumn 1996, show at CSA Brancaleone (that was before Brancaleone dropped their CSA tag and became sort of a drum'n'bass venue) with Omaha and Washer.
We chat a lot about those bands, about Facebook and how everybody from those bands is pretty much on it, while Peter Ki starts discovering how good the vegetarian cuisine is and decides to take me to another vegetarian restaurant for dinner.
Some walking around, more chatting and then to a bar to meet Peter's friend Janet. The three of us then head to Red Bamboo to have one of the most delicious vegetarian dinners I've ever had. 
We explore the West Village until we're so tired that our tongues can't talk anymore. The jet lag has been hitting me ever since I've arrived to NYC and by midnight I'm pretty much useless. 
It's bedtime much earlier than I'm used to.

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