March 18th, 2025. The SPARK with Juels Bland.

Bev kicking things off at the Takoma Spark. I like the tradition that comes with whoever I hand the market to, to sign up on the list, almost invariably immediately hands it to Bev to secure her traditional number 2 position.

Phil! You need a pickup! I (think I) know it’s your wife’s guitar, but come on! She wants you to have nice things that make my Life easy!

I’m a victim of my own success, and I should be grateful for this – but both my Sunday and Tuesday open mics are simply glutted with amazing talent. Woe is me. I’m turning away too many people and it saddens me, but I’m already onsite for these longer than I can really sustain. Today I rolled in at 4.30 and didn’t roll out till almost 11pm. I know there are people who have like “day jobs” that apparently have even longer work days, but it’s not like I’m getting here fresh and rosy!

Today Juels Bland was my featured artist and as usual, even when he’s a known quantity, he was a variable. My friend Daniel Lee was in town and I was visualizing them both as little guitar entities sitting on my shoulders, Juels definitely on the left, Daniel probably meandering and wandering and frequently out-and-out disappearing but generally existing on my right. Their approach to being spectacularly-talented individuals is dramatically different – and they’re from extremely different backgrounds so I should really have them in similar envelopes in my mind – but (I think) because Daniel, though he’s much closer in age to me than to Juels, reads as SO much younger than he is I sort of think of Juels and Daniel as the same age.

Meh.

A good night. I continue to be blown away by JUST HOW GOOD Joseph Friend is – we tried to work out just how long we’d known one another, and came to the realization that he was in high school when we were both hitting up the Year of the Rabbit in 2001 or so. Sutra’s tabla player has returned to the States and so they’re back to jamming together. Buzz Merrick came out and found the Takoma political scene to his liking. New Guy Kevin tickled my grunge fancies.

Daniel Lee hath come creeping from Baton Rouge, LA.

So how do I maintain this without having to close the doors on too many people?

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!

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