June 18th, 2024. The SPARK w Alex Lacquement.

A decently full night for my last night in town and for our featured artist Alex Lacquement.

The open mic started off really, really well. It didn’t continue on a steady trajectory, but it ended on a high note, though the feature was a low note. A really great low note. Because the feature was a bass player.

Ha?

I got down to Takoma Park early because a) I needed to buy a water bottle for flying to Brussels on the morrow, b) if I’m walking to CVS I might as WELL walk a little further and get coffee and c) the SPARK has been left in highly-variable states of disarray over the past several weeks and I miiiiiight need extra time to set up.

Water bottle? Easy. Though most were too big or too pink or too “Best Dad Ever” (leftover from Father’s Day sales), there was a blue one that was just right and it came away with me as I went down the block to Starbucks, where one of me and Heather’s favourite baristas works on Tuesdays.

Spoiler alert : eventually we DO get to the open mic, and everything’s okay – but I don’t take as many photos as normal. Here’s new-to-us artist, Stuart.

I don’t know his name, but he’s always got a smile, has something positive to say, and … dare I say it… has a wonderful, joyous VIBE. Except last week. He’d clearly had something going amiss last week but he was slinging coffee and the place was busy and I didn’t get a chance to say “hey man, hope you’re okay – cause you bring me joy…”

THIS week it was slower and I mentioned that I was glad to see him clearly having a better day than last Tuesday. He apologized for letting it show (apparently a machine had been problematic and he’d been really frustrated) and we talked quick about being human, supporting one another, and how I just wanted him to know that me and my drummer (Heather) take joy from his… well… vibe… and that that he always made our days better. We talked about putting positivity into the world, and how much of a battle that could be some days.

And then he bought me my fancy coffee drink and wished me well. That filled me with joy that unfortunately I did NOT maintain, promptly forgetting his lesson. I feel kind of bad about that.

The SPARK was completely dismantled except for the parts that were tangled and tied together. That made me grumpy. Then the headphone jack splintered and broke off inside the audio interface. Trying to get the night started was stressful and slightly problematic as I used my knife and tweezers from John C (lute player) to dismantle the Focusrite and remove the fragments of the headphone jack, replace it and plug it in again. In the chaos of that I managed to make the SPARK go Live using the VOM link and that meant a lot of people had trouble finding it – and then when Kristen stepped in and helped post the CORRECT link, Facebook thought we were trying to misdirect our audience with a fake link and deleted the posts and shut it down.

Sigh.

But I’d had a fantastic free nitro coffee chocolate sweet cold cream and should’ve maintained a better attitude!

HOSTING!

Saying “Alex Lacquement” challenges me. Beyond his renown as a bass player, as the keeper of rhythm the local folk and folk-adjacent scene, beyond ALL THAT, his last name is very, very French. And I used to be almost fluent in French. And I’m going somewhere, TOMORROW, where French is one of the dominant languages – and despite the fact that I’ve been using Babbel to try to brush up my French for the past six months, it’s become horribly clear that very little of my previous six YEARS of the language remains in my head, much less on my tongue.

And yes – that means that to my HORROR I stumble over the name “Lacquement”.

Fortunately, since Alex is local folk royalty (yesterday he was at the Library of Congress playing bass for Natalie Merchant), Cathy Fink popped in any gave him an admirably superlative and completely, uncharacteristically unsarcastic introduction, saving me from stumbling over his name.

And then bam. Bass solo.

Awesome night.

An awesome night that had technical issues, angsts, sound issues, grumpiness, and a list that was longer than it should’ve been since it’s my last night in town and I want to fit everyone in.

Anywho : We do this every Tuesday. Signup before 7. I start at 7. 7112 Willow Avenue in Takoma Park, MD. robsopenmics.ilyaimy.com for more information. For information about the photos and videos and usage thereof, please click here!

Tonight w