Don't Feel Sorry for The Abandoned
A stray kitten has taken residence under my daughter Kacie's apartment.
What can it be like for a baby to abandoned to a world that could care less if it exists or not?
Is it any wonder why, when I get close to the kitten's face with the lens of my camera, that I
see, not the joy and wonder we'd hope an infant, new to this world, might experience, but
fear and hunger, and likely a longing for the comfort of a parent that is no where to be found?
How is it we turn our heads so easily away from the sorrows of the world?
How is it we find justification and example for economies and governments based wholly on the
divisions of wealth and power?
How is it we determined that there are indeed different 'classes' of people?
OPEN MIC NIGHT
Last night was our first OPEN MIC night.
Matt Stensby opened the show at 6:00 with 2 hours of solo guitar and voice.
5 people performed between 8 and 10.
I was so busy behind the bar that I wasn't able to photograph the first act. But where you can see from these pictures the
other performers, let me try and describe the first act, a young man, whose name was Justin I believe.
He was young. I'm not even sure he was 21. When he sang, there was a sensitivity and a collective wisdom that seemed to indicate
he might be over 21; but the ease at which he was able to vary the range of his voice, made me think him barely out of puberty.
He didn't seem frail by any means; but, he did seem vulnerable. Like the kitten under Kacie's apartment vulnerable. But, unlike that kitten, this young man had tonight chosen to come out from under the house.
I got the feeling he did this a lot.
He waited patiently for his turn. He was the first to sign up.
He didn't ask for anything. And when I asked him if he'd like anything, he asked for, "a water" and he smiled.
And I know the scene. I know it's not about drinking or partying.
It's about sharing the music inside.
I was so busy it took me fifteen minutes to get the water. It wasn't a high priority afterall.
I did feel bad that I had forgotten and I tried to keep that water glass full for the rest of the night.
You know, when you're trying to build a scene in town, it's not about chasing the money, it's about making the place comfortable and desireable. I believe that if you can accomplish this, then the people will come.
To start a scene, you've got to start with the people who don't really spend any money. They bring their souls and their hearts and authenticity. What the management chooses to do with that is up the management.
I'm 48 years old.
I can remember when I was 22. I was like that kitten under Kacie's house.
Maybe in a way, I still am. I don't know, but I do know I never had the guts to read my poetry or perform my songs at an Open Mike anywhere.
The kid could play the guitar good. And he sang these songs that the people listening couldn't quite peg. People kept saying between the songs, "What's that cover?"
And the kid kept saying, "I don't know any covers. I only know my own songs."
And he'd play another one. And someone said, "What U2 song is that?"
And he's say, "Man, I don't do any covers. I only know my own songs."
And after about the third or the fourth time, they, you know, the people listening, they got it.
"Hey, you're pretty good. You got another one?"
And the kid said, "I got a lifetime of them." [1]
I'm 48 years old. And yes, sometimes, I wish I could do it all over and ....
yet I know, you see, my friend Mike Kelly, whom I haven't seen in almost 20 years, he used to say, "if you want to change your life, just close your eyes and when you open them, open them to a new world."
That's all you have to do.
Does it matter if they were any good?
Or does it simply matter that each was given the opportunity to share with anyone choosing to listen, what the view
from under the house looks like.
JENNY
My friend Jenny, the writer, came in.
"Mike", she said, "Why is it when I start reading a good book I feel better about my life?"
"What are you reading", I asked her.
"War and Peace."
"You're a freak", I said.
"And so are you."
"I'm a lost kitten that got old", I said.
"Then", she said, smiling, and in beween a sip of Candy's Key Lime Sublime Martini,
"You're Lucky."
I thought about that. And I thought, "yeah, she's right. I am pretty lucky."
"You know Mike", she said, licking some of the sugar off the edge of the glass, "when I have my first kid, I'm going to name
him or her Ckayel ... Candy's Key Lime ..."To what purpose does music serve but to communicate to the shadows and the shoes walking by.
Brother, can you spare a smile?
Or, would you rather just have a bowl of soup?
Yes, I am 48 years old.
But I don't have to wish i was 22 or 28. I'm 48. And if want to come out from under my house and share with those who are willing to listen, or just happen to be around, what it is that is inside me, then I can.
And maybe I am.
Maybe I'm realizing that I am my own Open Mike.
So yeah, why don't you get in on the ground floor. I've finally got the foundation laid. I'm not so sure on where the walls will go
or what the furniture will look like, but that'll come in time. Right now, I've come to realize that it's not about the walls or the couches or the choice of fabrics. It's about other things.
[1] Well, he didn't really say it all like that, but I think I got the general feeling of it.
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