ilyĀIMY

Rolling up to Morsbergers last night, getting ready for my open mic. I’m DEFINITELY a little out of practice, but Leedy Peoples greets me with a metal riff or three and things are as they should be.

I woke up from a dream that Rowan and I were in the basement
of my mother’s house, troubleshooting a computer. I think somehow it was
ACTUALLY the basement of my uncle’s old house in Hyattsville as there isn’t space
for setting up a computer in my mother’s house, but you know how dreams are.
Rowan was working through some issue or another, typing, tapping, cursing, and
my stomach was unhappy, griping, shifting, gurgling. I needed to use the
bathroom but didn’t want to expose Rowan to the noisome and noisy angsts that
were rumbling within me, and so I went upstairs to a bathroom that wasn’t right
NEXT to where the computer was set up.

And that’s when my memories of the house as a child run full
tilt into my knowledge of the house as an adult. The big bathroom upstairs is
unusable because of boxes and clutter stacked throughout. My father’s little
bathroom off the master bedroom looked more promising, but it looked to be in rough
shape after years of abuse and months of disuse. I began retreating to the one
reasonably functioning bathroom back in the basement and then woke up at around
4am.

After almost an hour of trying to get back to sleep, and by “trying”
I mean reading the news and reading Pratchett to salve myself, I finally gave
up and got up, made myself a bagel and some coffee and regretfully woke the
cat, which means waking Kristen, on a day when she’d rather not be woken.

She’s coming down with something AND taking her father to
another medical procedure early this morning. Stealing what sleep she’s getting
is NOT a good deed.

Last night’s open mic at Morsbergers was a joy. A couple of
new artists, plenty of my regulars, a return of wandering sheep – including myself.
Looking at the calendar, I MAY have hosted the open mic more than just the first
two weeks of the year, but I’m hard-pressed to see that sans referring to the Journal.
Betwixt gigs and snow, and snowed out gigs, I feel deeply out of practice. I
actually forgot my MIXER of all things and had to run back to the house.

When I rolled in a SECOND time, I was grateful to see that
Jeni had popped in. We talked a bit about the trials and tribulations of
Morsbergers. I know Juels had gotten himself into a Charlie Kirk “debate” a
couple of weeks ago, they still haven’t replaced the doorknob and this week’s
to be the first open mic with a functioning kitchen since the New Year.

Tosca’s up after me.

Anywho, I got things up and running sans too much angst. Had
some tense moments with some pool players who wanted just one more game and a
birthday party of very drunk squiggle girls who really didn’t grasp that this
wasn’t karaoke. They kept teasing people with guitars “ooooh, booooyeeez got a
gee taaaarrr!” so I just turned off the lights over the pool tables, killed the
house music and hoped…. At first the squealed and said a lot of stuff about “dicks”
in the darkness, but eventually they realized they couldn’t get any more drinks
on our side and wandered off.

I talked to Jeni a bit about how I worried that Morsbergers
culture was backsliding a bit… we talked a bit about hate. Strangely similar
conversation to what I had with Pinky at Dark Horse. Building our islands, pockets
and communities…

Maybe it’s just me talking this way with the women who own my
favourite bars, but I THINK these are two-way conversations.

Anywho, it was a good night and hummed away smoothly right
up until Jeni came out and said there was a gas leak and we had to evacuate.
There have been a couple of massive gas explosions locally in recent memory so
I guess I was a little stupid in making sure I could gather my cameras, mixer
and guitar before actually leaving. A bad example, certainly, but it’s what I
did. We all stood shivering in the parking lot as the fire department came out –
they’re literally at the other end of the block – and shut off the valves and
aired the place out.

Gas fumes were disbursed and we were okayed within half an
hour by the firefighters, and I plugged everything back in, plunged back in,
and we picked up right where we left off with Alaina Tamash. However, I
finished out the night with a FEROCIOUS headache – either gas or blood pressure
or not enough water, all of the above or none. I was grateful to have a pretty
short list and to be home before 10pm.

Now it’s around 7 hours later and the headache is lurking as
the sun rises. I don’t see this often, but it’s trying hard to be a perfect
morning. Birds chirping, cat quiet, sun streaming.

Shame about the news.

In theory we’re back to doing this every Sunday night at Morsbergers Tavern at 713 Frederick Rd, Catonsville, MD, 21228. Signup is at 6.30pm, music starts at 7pm. 2 songs / 10 minutes whichever’s shorter, kitchen’s open till 8. Tonight we had

1. rob
2. Tosca
3. Misul Rivers
4. Kurt
5. Mike S
6. Leedy Peoples
7. Mike Bragg
8. Alaina Tamash
9. Braedon
10. Roisin
11. Old Crab Hands
12. Mo
13. @Maddie

Okay, a couple of weeks ago, the “most Morsbergers thing” was someone stealing the doorknob. THIS week the “most Morsbergers thing” is evacuating the bar for a gas leak and lighting up a cigarette.