8/25 I'm a little late getting this entry posted, life has been very hectic lately. I work two part time jobs besides the store and they both have increased in activity lately. But one, my training jobs for the Alabama Forestry Association will end for this year at the end of September. Anyway I wanted to review our last concert and open mike night which were held on 8/19 and 8/21.
Our songwriters night featured Julie Lindsey who is a barista here and John Lott, both wonderful songwriters. What I like about their collaboration is the difference in styles. John is loud and in your face with both his singing and lyrics which tend to reflect hard life experiences while Julie is soft and emotional in both her musical style and songs which deal with emotional and feeling issues. They compliment each other very well, usualy alternating their songs which works very well in their case. They have been here before, but this was by far their best concert, really great. John appears to have fully recoverd from his life threatening car wreck, we are very thankful for that.
Julie performed mostly her songs including Desert's Daughter, Mores and It Might As Well Be Me, which to me are really great songs in a repertoire of really great songs. She included a few covers such as Hurt, which I like now since I heard Johnny Cash's recording, and Lori McKenna's haunting Fireflies. John sang from his life in his Drifting, Worlds Worst Victim (a humorous song, he doesn't do much humor), Never Knew Her Name and Buster's GoGo to name a few. It was just a great night.
Open mike went well, poorly attended but we had a few singers and poets and had a really good time as always.
8/14 Gerri and I went to the funeral of one of my Marine Viet Nam helicopter pilot buddies last week in North Carolina. He basically died at age 65 of alcohol related problems. For some reason he never got over the war and it seemed to be on his mind constantly and I guess drinking was his way of handling the memories. This is a guy who had a world of potential, his high school and college achievments read like a Who's Who article. But like the preacher (who did a great job) said, the demons of Viet Nam haunted his life. He would call me periodically and we'd talk for a long time, he was drinking I think most of the time. All he wanted to talk about were the old Marine Corp days, like he was stuck in a rut. I enjoyed the conversations, you can't talk about that stuff with eveybody, but I used to wonder if he had another life. After the funeral I kind of doubt that he did, or at least the war memories colored over those other parts of his life much of the time.
There were six of us old VMO squadron guys there and as far as I know none of the rest of us were affected that way, even though we all saw and experienced similar things. I used to have flashbacks at times, but I learned how to compartmentalize them into a corner of my mind and leave them there. Although at times they would leak out unexpectedly and bother me for a little while until I could corral them again. I didn't talk about it for years, I can and do now. I guess people just handle things differently.
The funeral affected me two ways, it was sad that a potentially wonderful life was gone, and I'll miss our late night conversations, but then seeing the other five guys even for such a short time was great and worth the trip. I guess the bottom line is that when your life is over and weighed in the balance all you really ever had were the relationships you enjoyed with others, all the rest melts away and doesn't count for much.
8/8 Last night was another in a continuing series of great open mikes. The diversity of performances was incredible. We had thirteen performers sign up. From Carlo playing a digereedoo with joimbe drum accompaniment to Ronnie Knight's tribute to his late friend Chris Whitley playing an old duct taped up slide guitar, with poets Jason Anderson, Julie Gobbell and Joseph Eason, the debute of the newly formed duo Brojangles, along with regulars Roger Snow, David Speegle, Dennis Kaylor, Josh Brooks, and me, it was just a great night. Newcomer Melody Steely sang some great originals, what a fantastic voice she has. We had folk, originals by several singer-songwriters, gospel, blues and country (Robert, Mac and Bobby performed some old country tunes (great pickin' Bobby). Billy Boyce from Madison, a founding member of Brojangles performed an original song as well accompanied on his mandolin. Just a great night. Next open mike is August 21st.
8/7 Since James Smith retired from his day job and began to perform all over north Alabama and south Tennesee, his music has really blossomed. He gave, I think, his best performance to date here last Saturday night. He has a very unique style, who else can carry a two hour show with only an autoharp and great vocals and stories. His performance included a great balance of old traditional folk tunes such as Old Joe Clark, The Old Spinning Wheel, with originals and standards such as Danny Boy and O Sussannna. He introduced his songs with histories and stories about them which added to our interest. We had a pretty full house of very attentice listeners. It was a good show.
8/4 Check out the Birmingham News Religion section today, there is a really good article on the Organic Church that meets here on Thursday nights. It explains who they are, their purpose, etc. I attend their meetings and have found them very inspiring. Its purpose is not to replace your regular church, but to supplement it with an atmosphere that is not religious, churchy, snobby or cliqueish so anyone can come and not be threatened and can worship and study together with open minded people from many different backgrounds, religious and otherwise.
Our fall entertainment schedule is beginning to flesh itself out, we have some good stuff coming up. Check the schedule of events. I am particularly excited about Three Forks of the Flint and Bimini Road. These bands feature really good musicians and entertainers.
