(no subject)
today i went to a rehearsal of the one and only Rude Mechanical Orchestra. they rehearse in a basement down under the manhattan bridge overpass (DUMBO), and use consensus and love to make their decisions. i've hardly ever seen more beautiful people assembled in one spot, and never have i not been the only person in a room to have no preferred gender pronoun. a nice, cross-eyed old woman lent me her mellophone to play, and most of the people in the band can't read music; it's all by ear. every newbie gets a buddy, but i lucked into getting both of the trumpeters, because they're sweethearts, as they say. at one point, the band struck out into the cold night and rehearsed in the streets. people in their apartments crowded their windows on top of each other and applauded as we played and danced.