Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heros!

Initiation (hazing?) in the volunteer fire fighter style

You’re back! Cool. I’m still here so that makes two of us.

Most of you know me from music stuff so I’m going to continue to open these posts with…new musical activities. I hope that’s ok. The big news is the Buke & Gase concert film & documentary which came out in 2023 is finally getting a soundtrack!

As of last week ago, half the tracks are streaming and on Bandcamp. The full record is out May 2, 2025, the film’s second anniversary. The 14-track LP includes songs from every one of our records. Since we don’t like repeating ourselves this is probably the closest we’ll ever come to making a Greatest Hits collection. There are a few ways to listen:

You can also get it as part of our Scholars Alliance on Bandcamp. I’m a big fan of Bandcamp because that’s how we actually make a bit of money from our recordings, but you do you. If you’re a streaming person a Spotify pre-save will apparently “tickle the algorithm” and be helpful. (Yes that’s a quote from our label guy.)

left to right: movie poster & a film still

Meanwhile, Aron and I have initiated a rehearsal regimen¹ in preparation for our first performance in over five years (?!) at Long Play Festival in Brooklyn on May 3rd at the BRIC Ballroom. Every Tuesday & Thursday 7-9ish,² leading up to the performance, we’re livestreaming our rehearsals via Blast Radio. Go HERE if you’d like to listen in as we struggle to wrap our brains around the material, and be the first to know which songs are the hardest for us to pull off.

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How A Freak Becomes A Firefighter? pt 2

Here is part 1 if you missed it & need to catch up.

In the last episode, I had hastily decided that I WILL BE FIRE FIGHTER AND SAVE LIVES AND POSSIBLY GET INJURED. None of these concepts are guaranteed, but they are certainly within the realm of possibility, and possibilities are useful elements in a life-compass.

This pic is jumping ahead a bit but everyone loves a person in uniform so…

I handed in my application at the beginning of Summer 2024 and then…heard nothing back. The summer came and went, I was super busy landscaping, teaching kids how to ride or fix bikes and making music on Naama Tsabar’s artwork in Berlin, so no big dingdongdeal I barely thought about it.

But, like, really? At the August Town Board Meeting I checked in with the Chief to see if I should be expecting to hear anything or if there was more I needed to do, and he recommended I hand in another application to him, directly. In a hushed aside, he informed me that my original application had been “lost,” and the guy who I handed my original to is no longer in charge of handling incoming applications, apparently.

This was my first insight into what I’ve learned is the incredibly passive social culture of the department: a place where many members have very strong opinions that they choose not to directly address but, rather, express them at length to ANYONE ELSE within earshot. They are a plosively talkative bunch!

So, Chief fast-tracked my second application (Thanks, Chief!) and I made a doctor’s appointment for a physical where I blew into a tube foreverrrr, got delicately zapped with an EKG, stood on one foot with my eyes closed. I thought, this is it? To join, you need to be able to stand up without getting dizzy? Uhm…I passed. Yay!

In September I was invited to the Commissioner’s meeting where it was officially announced that I was joining the department. I was SO PROUD and I’d done absolutely NOTHING yet. I signed what looked to be a scrappy address book with names as far back as the 1970s (I’d hoped it would be older, but was charmed by it nonetheless), and they proceeded to pile upon me a shiny metal badge (awesome), a Probationary ID (did you say there might be local discounts?!) and a pager. Then I was taken into the back storage room to deal-with-it-GoldieLocks-style a well-fitted jacket, super not well-fitted oversized pants, clunky boots a size or two too big, teensy tiny gloves, heavy helmet, thermal hood, safety high-visibility vest, and a big, red carrying bag for all the goodies, which for a while I kept referring to as my “kit” and Chief laughed at me.

“What the heck do you mean, kit? You mean Turnout Gear?!”

Ok. Learning the lingo.

My turnout gear aka my kit.

Proud novice!

When I signed up, I was advised that you can be an Active Member and/or a Social Member of the Town of Greenport Fire Department, and you don’t necessarily need to be a social member at the same station where you’re active.

There are three stations in Greenport, which is a town shaped like a horseshoe that acts as a politically conservative jockstrap that manages to keep Hudson’s elite nutsack cozily cupped in place. Ones is the station closest to me on Green St/23b, the Eastern section; Becraft is located in the South section of the Town of Greenport which is mostly rural; and Threes is located North in the more sprawling, suburban-styled neighborhoods off of Fairview, the road along which all the big box businesses and shopping malls are haphazardly clustered. You know, where your hopes and dreams of having a good day go to die, but the sunsets are spectacular!

I was informed on the sly, likely with a tinge of bias, that the social aspect of Ones would be, perhaps, not my cup of culture tea, and that Threes had a pleasantly active social membership (not to confuse you, there) that I might fit into more appropriately. So I joined Ones as an Active Member, since they were just around the corner from me, and Threes as a Social Member.

Now, HAD I KNOWN this would lead to TWICE the number of monthly obligations, including station-specific meetings, fundraising activities, parties and yearly fees (you PAY to be a volunteer member of a dangerous job), I mayhaps would not have opted for such an overly ambitious decision.

Alas! It’s official. I’m an Active Ones and Social Threes.

My initiation to Three’s social member obligations was at Hound Dog Hero, a food stand located on the County Fairgrounds in Chatham, where I learned how to make the most insane meal I’ve ever encountered: the Meatball Sub. A notorious Threes original recipe, this head-sized, half loaf of Italian bread is first fisted and spread up to your forearm, then stuffed beyond capacity with hot red sauce, meatballs, and/or pepperoni. (Typically and.) I belatedly apologize for any unwanted alternative visuals that description may have triggered. Would I recommend trying one? Absolutely. Share it! Get a bunch of forks and go to town with your crew. We were stuffing close to 1,000 of these puppies each day!

Am I just stuffing a hero? Or am I a heroic stuffer? You decide.

Fighting Fires one sub at a time!

I did my best to show up as often as possible over the six-day County Fair and managed to meet a good lot of other members of the Greenport Fire Department. They were all quite welcoming, and certainly glad I was there to help with operations. A few were already poking fun, which I’ve been told “means they like ya” as though we were back in elementary school recess, so I guess that felt subjectively good.

It was like being introduced to in-laws, or dogs all trying to size me up and see if they can get me to drop a Sub. As this was pre-2024 election, you could immediately smell the deep anger musk of political poop, which was especially reeking from two older members who seemed eager to get a rise out of me by loudly, repeatedly, yet-not-directly declaring their allegiance to Trump. I gently ignored them but when they talked about needing to buy their County Fair Trump flags…and hats…and t-shirts, I chimed in with “Don’t forget your Trump undies! Gotta keep him close to your heart, right?”

Right.

They tend to steer clear of me at meetings now.

Aside from the internal grumbling (was it my stomach? or was it questioning the liberal optics of working with grumpy Trumpys?), and in between demolition derby explosions, I was heartened to hear all the nice comments from fairgoers thanking us all for our service. I began to deeply appreciate the pride that the other members took in this somewhat gag-inducing process of feeding the community in exchange for donations to support the Fire Department. It was fun, fast-paced, tiring and tomato-spattering work, but I was so happy to be there, happy to greet hungry strangers and accept their gratitude.

My future at Threes as a Social member hasn’t fully congealed. (Prior to finishing this article I’d asked to be a social member of Ones instead, which hosts FOOT LONG HOT DOG days, Soup Socials and Pumpkin Sales - woohoo! The plot thickens…) Regardless, I’ll still go back to work with the Threes for this year’s County Fair, because it felt like the kind of family reunion activity I’d wish to be happily received at.

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Upcoming Live Performances

I am still a musician so let me tell you about a pair of shows coming up

Saturday, May 3: Buke & Gase @ Long Play Festival

Where: BRIC, 647 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217 • tickets & details • What is it? A multi-day, multi-venue festival put on by the awesome Bang on a Can organization. Our date and venue have been confirmed! Festival passes include the chance to see us and a 90th birthday tribute to Terry Riley with Pete Townshend (yes, The Who guy) and folks like Max Richter and Kim Gordon (from Sonic Youth & Body / Head) and lots of other great musicians.

Saturday, June 28: Dronechoir @ Roulette

Where: 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 • tickets & details • What is it? An awesome, long-standing experimental music venue commissioned a new and improved version of my Dronechoir, made possible with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. Roulette is only awarded a maximum of one of these grants each year, and it feels cool to be the Chosen One.

Big hearts and thank you to Tony Marino and Yousef Ali for setting us up with the Blast Radio equipment and idea!

1. For real, here’s video:

2. The BlastRadio streams remain live for 24 hours after the broadcast. So it might be easier to just tune in the next day Wednesday and Fridays.