I have plenty of time and some friends in town, so I decide not to worry about the variety show at which I am to appear with Jessica. When I see it's 7:30pm I get on the subway with the intention of drawing up a short setlist and running through a song or two in my head. But an immigrant father and son on the train need directions, and I spend most of the ride explaining the map to them, missing my transfer. I arrive at the Harlem amphitheater at 11:30pm but am relieved to find that the variety show is running late. Jessica, however, is not pleased at my lateness, and refuses my attempts to introduce an element of improvisation into our 10-minute performance. She is also resentful that I have forgotten the ukulele, mandolin, and fiddle at home. Ultimately it doesn't matter because there are so many acts before us that we don't get a spot. At the after party, I have been asked to get people interested in skateboarding around an enormous and steep track sometimes used for Vertical Roller Derby. With fear in my heart, I plunge off the rim.