I’m sitting at Heather’s new Java Mammas open mic. It’s so strange to be in this familiar place and NOT be running things. It’s kind of relaxing, kind of surreal. There are so many familiar faces but I feel like I’ve lost the reason for our connection. Heather’s got a whole different way of interacting with people and I imagine this must be like what it would be like to sneak in and see one of her solo shows on the road.
I feel slightly bad because I think I MIGHT be heckling – but I don’t mean it in a BAD way!
The new owners have done a good job. The food’s exquisite, the new couches are nothing short of awesome and the desserts which I’m resisting are all the harder to resist because of their mystery – Everyone says they’re very, very good but I’m full of slowly-expanding Mexican gumbo and Kristen’s brownies.
Thanks to a canceled gig and an understanding manager (at House of Musical Traditions) the day has an exceptionally relaxed feel. The light is grey and fading, but the West Side of Baltimore always seems to have its own private sunset. It always penetrates, sleeting down underneath the carapace of cloud and the grey is underlit with reds and oranges and beautiful actinic edges. I regret not working in / Living in / owning / being-young-enough-and-willing-to-break-into a tall building somewhere in the area. I miss rooftops in Baltimore, the 2×4 bridges and pirate’s nest environs of friends in Fells Point, the rooftop of the Science Center where we’d watch the sunset and the storms race and the fireworks. We didn’t know how good we had it. I miss the top of the Commons and kisses on the roof of the Walters and the threat of slipping off slick shingles into beds of forbidden roses.
Not to get poetic at you, but it’s how I remember it.
The night is slow. It amazes me to see how few people have caught on to the new night. I wonder if the kids all still show up on Thursday nights and the open mic itself never bothered them one way or the other. Or if they all go and hang out some place else. Man – these couches? They just don’t know what they’re missing.
One of the things that I Love about open mics – or at least my open mics – all are welcome! These kids were so nervous they were visibly trembling, but they did a GREAT job at the Skippers Dips and Deli open mic event thingie! We had a great array of different performers including a couple of other road warriors who came out cause they knew us from various spots in the country.
Jade is going to take the stage next. She’s quietly pulling her Alvarez from its case. I sold her the case, I sold her the guitar. I Love knowing that history, knowing that it’s a great guitar and being slightly jealous of it. She’s making her way to the front. In Heather’s words: “curviest damn skinny girl”…. It’s a good night to be a boy….
Ahem.
