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Train to singing in Seattle
Apr. 2nd, 2012 10:01 amI took the train up to Seattle to hang out with a new friend, hear onefourfive perform Georgian songs, and then join in the singalong afterward. (Can't find a webpage for onefourfive, but here's a youtube video.) A lot of them were at the workshop I attended recently.
It felt like a wild thing to do, eight hours on the train for an evening that might be great or might be a dud, but I did it. It turned out to be great. Both through singing and conversation I wove more connections with this community. On the way home I felt that same sense of being nourished, of having received something I needed.
My memories of east coast train travel in stressful company are overlaid with anxiety. The ride to Seattle and back was peaceful, chatting with my kind, fragrance-free seatmate and lots of reading and looking at the scenery. I even listened to music on my iPod. I brought it in case we needed reminding about song parts, but then I realized I could use it the way most people do.
For those of you in the Northwest and not in the know, the Cascades train which goes back and forth between Portland and Vancouver, BC is completely different from the Coast Starlight which goes all the way to LA. I knew the Coast Starlight is radically less reliable because it travels so far, so I only took it because the later Cascades train was sold out.
But! There is twice as much leg room. The train cars are double-decker and we got to be upstairs. There's a lounge car with windows curving up overhead, some chairs facing out, and some booths with tables. I am now much less apprehensive about taking it all the way to the Bay Area later this Spring.
It felt like a wild thing to do, eight hours on the train for an evening that might be great or might be a dud, but I did it. It turned out to be great. Both through singing and conversation I wove more connections with this community. On the way home I felt that same sense of being nourished, of having received something I needed.
My memories of east coast train travel in stressful company are overlaid with anxiety. The ride to Seattle and back was peaceful, chatting with my kind, fragrance-free seatmate and lots of reading and looking at the scenery. I even listened to music on my iPod. I brought it in case we needed reminding about song parts, but then I realized I could use it the way most people do.
For those of you in the Northwest and not in the know, the Cascades train which goes back and forth between Portland and Vancouver, BC is completely different from the Coast Starlight which goes all the way to LA. I knew the Coast Starlight is radically less reliable because it travels so far, so I only took it because the later Cascades train was sold out.
But! There is twice as much leg room. The train cars are double-decker and we got to be upstairs. There's a lounge car with windows curving up overhead, some chairs facing out, and some booths with tables. I am now much less apprehensive about taking it all the way to the Bay Area later this Spring.
