Behind the Wall of Sleep

For a guy who loves to sleep, I really don't get much these days. Through nobody's fault but my own, of course. During the week, I get an average of six to seven hours of sleep a night, usually closer to six. I tend to stay up late doing stuff like this on the computer or watching TV, and then I have to get up at 6 a.m. to roust the girls and get them ready for school before I head off to work. But occasionally, I will have a stretch of days in which I push the limits.

Last Wednesday night, I played hockey for the first time in five weeks and now we're starting at 10:30 p.m., so when all was said and done, I wasn't in bed until 1 a.m. Thursday. That night, I went to the Sloan show at TT's, which didn't end until 1:15 a.m. and my head didn't hit the pillow until 2:20 or so. Had to get up again to get the girls up, but fortunately I had taken the day off from work, so I was able to go back to bed for a few hours. Friday was actually a busy day because of an eye doctor appointment, visits to our insurance company and the registry because we sold the Maxima and had to switch the plates and insurance, and other errands. I didn't go to bed until 12:30, but I was able to sleep until 8 a.m. Saturday.

Saturday night, I went into Cambridge again to catch the Ted Leo and the Pharmacists show at the Middle East. It was snowing like crazy on the way in, so I had to be careful. I stopped by the Breitlings' hizzy before the show and hung out with Jay, Amy and baby Chloe for a few hours, which was most enjoyable. When I got to the club, it was about 60 degrees warmer than outside because the show was sold out. I caught most of Titus Andronicus' raucous opening set; they play a very entertaining brand of the punk rock.

Ted Leo is a terrific performer. Jay, Amy and I actually caught him at the old Avalon venue on his last tour. This time around, he's only playing a few dates in the Northeast before heading off to Europe. His forthcoming album, The Brutalist Bricks, isn't coming out on his new label Matador until March. So it was great to see him in a small club like the Middle East downstairs, even if I did sweat my nads off. Ran into Mike and Cathy P., who also were at the Sloan show a few days earlier. Leo came out with a newly shorn fauxhawk-looking 'do, which made him resemble the great Ed Grimley:




Okay, maybe Leo's pants weren't hiked that high up. But he and the Pharmacists proceeded to bang out a 100-minute set, sprinkling some new material (which sounded excellent on first listen; "Even Heroes Have to Die" is available from Matador as a free download) among some of his better known stuff from his string of excellent albums over the last decade. He had guitar problems throughout the show and had to borrow one from one of the other acts at one point, but it didn't detract from the gig. Highlights included "Timorous Me" from The Tyranny of Distance, which was my first introduction to his music, and fan favorites like "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?," "Bridges, Squares," "Walking to Do" and "Me and Mia." It was a great time and I was glad I went, but by the same token I was also dreading the next 12 hours.

Because at 1:15 a.m., I had to drive home in some slippery, snowy conditions, past a few spinouts and wary of the left lane because it was extra slick. I got to bed around 2 a.m. and had to get up at 5:15 so I could catch a ride up to Nashua for the Mill Cities Relay. Yep, three hours of sleep. But I woke up, got changed, drove across town to the house of a fellow member of the North Shore Striders, and rode with him and another runner up to frigid Nashua. I had the first leg, a 5.6-miler, which I was glad for because I could get it over with. As I did on Thanksgiving, I was exhausted but managed to run a really strong race for me, finishing in 42 minutes. There were four more legs for my teammates to run before the relay ended in Lawrence. It was only on the ride back to Beverly that the lack of sleep really hit me; I caught myself nodding off a few times. But at least I was in the backseat and not at the wheel.

We got back to Beverly around 1:30 and I drove home, where I watched the Patriots play an ultimately disappointing game against Miami. I probably should have just taken a nap, but what are you gonna do? We went out and bought new running shoes for Deb and me, and then ended up taking the girls out to dinner at the restaurant next door. After we got home and put the kids to bed, I lay down on the couch to watch TV and promptly fell asleep for a few hours. I got seven more much-needed hours last night, which was important because I had an important editing project to deal with today at work.

And as I type this, the clock's approaching midnight again and I'm starting to feel really tired. This fellow Ozzy doing his best ELO impression will explain: