Moooood swings. I’m swimmingly chipper, I’m depressed, I pep up, get really, really angry… I can point to plenty of environmental factors like gigs, open mic attendance, spectacular featured artists, rough weather… but in general I feel like my heart of penduluming far too swiftly, making up words to keep up. Apparently.
There’s so much going on around me. Swirling and pivoting, people’s Lives are intense and in dramatic flux. Sharif’s kid, Rowan’s band, Heather’s job… Kristen and I look at one another and worry that the world’s going mad around us. Listening to the news, the ghoulish announcer taking a morbid delight in describing the hideous murder of students in Africa… she lingers over the words “slit their throats” and “gunned down” and finally adds “the rest were all burned alive” with relish. She should at least tone down the glee. The graphic nature of the story will add its own weight. I feel like you can tell the reporters who’ve ever worked the scene from the mere commentators who just read off the sheet, still seeking drama.
Snow’s come to Baltimore again. Without warning the world outside my window is frosted white, but the ground is warm enough that the roads are staying clear. My opinion of the weather is so different now that I Love what I do. The gigs canceled have not only taken a financial toll (sigh, kill fees are so few and far between) but an emotional one as well, and I’m so grateful that FINALLY the snow is falling in a blank space betwixt shows.
My second Republic open mic went off with more hitches than the first, but at least it moved at a swifter pace. Two songs per peep I think is almost always the right choice. I miss not getting to have a feature (not just because I Love that format, but because it gives me a chance to peeeeee!!!) but frankly we don’t have the time. I’m sure things will settle down soon though. Unlike most areas where I feel you need a lot of run up time to hit your stride, to let information percolate through the community and get people to come out – I think Takoma Park has that small-town thing where information disseminated VERY swiftly, but interest might drain swiftly and we’ll actually DIE DOWN to an average, rather than build up to one. We’ll see.
Sound was close to disastrous. I’d eliminated most outside distractions from this, but the venue’s house system (not meaning the house PA, but the house speakers wired into the ceiling) were plugged in rather randomly creating an insane feedback loop that I had almost no control over. We tested it at the end and I’m pretty sure I now know exactly what happened – the system was designed by people who assume plugging in an iPod is the same thing as plugging in a PA and swore up and down it’d work the same. Obviously it doesn’t, the system received nothing but the whine of an unbalanced electric signal, which got picked up by the PA and fed back – I killed the PA but the whine was still screaming out of the overhead speakers which are controlled from the back office, where you can’t hear the overhead speakers!
Great…. We fixed it, but the muttering and sarcastic comments about the sound were mortifying. I could go on at length about this but it would probably be unwise. It doesn’t matter who screws up, everyone always blames the host.
But then I got invited by an institution no less than the Library Of Congress asking me to come speak on the cultural impact of open mics and the community of coffeehouses. Apparently local-luminary Jennifer Cutting recommended me – and when I thanked her for it I got this :
“I am so glad you accepted, Rob. You have certainly earned the honor of being invited, by your tireless organizing work, your encouragement of emerging performers, your generosity with your time, and your strong convictions about giving the public this kind of forum. I was happy to recommend you… I’ve long recognized that, in running all these events, your hours are long… the pay is little to nothing, and others have no idea how much work it takes to do what you do. This public forum will provide some insight for people about the kind of commitment and elbow grease it takes to create musical communities. I don’t know if the kind of visibility this gives you will translate into anything that makes your path easier… but I hope so.”
And just when I’m down… someone says just the right thing…
