crawl back under my stone

Last night I went to see Richard Thompson in concert at the Variety Playhouse. It was an absolutely stunning show…just the man and his guitar, playing some of my favorite songs. Recently my dad said that I had never been good at playing the piano because I couldn’t get the messages from my head to my fingers fast enough. Seemed particularly harsh, particularly since that was 10 years ago. But watching RT play, it’s hard not to be amazed at how fast his fingers move. It’s like the messages start down there or something. I don’t know. I don’t play guitar so I can’t say.

Watching the show, I marveled again at how lucky I am to live in Atlanta and have access to the Variety Playhouse, which is probably my favorite place to see a show. I could have never seen Richard Thompson in Seattle because he would have played someplace with jacked up Ticketmaster tickets. The Variety is a fun place with big-name acts that’s general admission. I’ve always been able to walk right in and get right up by the stage. It’s much more intimate than anywhere I ever went in Seattle and for less than what I would have paid there. But in thinking about that, I couldn’t help but realize that there are a lot of things in Seattle that don’t have equivalents in Atlanta that I really miss. Like:

The Seattle Public Library
I’ve waxed rhapsodic about this place before, I’m sure. And I don’t miss the books, because you can get books anywhere, and I don’t miss the movies, because I have Netflix now. But I sure do miss a library system that really invests in music. I heard so much good music by borrowing library cd’s in Seattle. That’s how I heard Richard Thompson, in fact. I feel like I can’t keep up with music as well without spending an arm and a leg here in Atlanta. Speaking of which….

Easy Street Records
This was a music store in my old neighborhood that I absolutely adored, particularly because they had so many indie, off the radar cds for cheap. Plus they had a ton of listening stations, and a pretty sweet rewards program. Even if I never bought much (since I also had the library at my disposal), it was an awesome place to while away a Saturday afternoon. As was:

Half-Price Books
Okay, this is a chain, but I love it. Talk about a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon…browsing bookshelves that have a better selection than Barnes & Noble but for half the price. Not to mention all the $1 and $2 mass market paperbacks. I mean, I don’t need any more books for the duration of my life. But that was a fun place to go for just looking at books.

Coffeeshops
This one is my fault, because I haven’t been trying very many new coffeeshops lately. And of course Seattle is the granddaddy of coffeeshops and you can’t duplicate that experience. But even the duddiest of coffeeshops there beats any of the ones I’ve tried here. But I will try more! That’s a new resolution.

Happy hour specials
I read somewhere recently that happy hour specials are technically illegal in Atlanta. And whether that’s true or not, it certainly feels that way. Gone are the days of $2 cocktails and $3 appetizers from 4-6 pm.

My gym
I always enjoyed going to my old gym. Affordable, good classes, nice equipment, DVD players on machines, right on the way home from work. Who would ever thought I’d miss a gym? But I do.

Riding the bus to work
I don’t always miss this. I love the convenience of driving to work and running errands on the way home if I need to. I certainly don’t miss being stuck on a slow bus or waiting for a bus that never seemed to come. But I do miss all that spare reading time.

Mountain and water scenery
Seattle was pretty.

And of course, the people I knew out there.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not itching to move back there all of a sudden. I could easily do a list of things Atlanta has that Seattle doesn’t, and I’m very happy here. All the same, I do miss these things, after about a year-and-a-half of being gone.