Last night we played for our room and board, and there’s something remarkably REAL about that. We spend a lot of time – as a species – working towards things that we only marginally understand. Filing the cash away in a savings account, or simply watching it vanish into the maws of insurance companies or the wallets of our property owners (I can’t really gripe about the latter – Jack? You’re GREAT!!!) but every once in a while through a hostel or a campground or in a couple of memorable instances mountain resorts, we get to play a set and in return we get dinner and a comfortable bed.
It’s a fair deal. We’re at the Wayfaring Buckeye Hostel in Columbus, OH – a place we’ve watched grow literally from being just an idea in our friend Mat’s mind to the fully-fleshed beautifully vibrant place that we’re waking up in this morning. French is drifting in from the next room and we stayed up late last night around the bonfire trading stories and flirtations. I think I’m too old to stay up and bandy about philosophies of Life – I’m too cynical to listen to anyone else about that now – and I’m optimistic enough to think I’ve got it all figured out! But I learned how to roast hot dogs over a fire and that eating ash was okay (hush mOsno) and that my French tongue is rusty and my French ears are rusty too, but they can still follow a conversation.
It’ll be cool to see Mat’s map board fill with pins. We should perhaps have been keeping one – and actually though we’ve had homes for many years now it’s only JUST occurring to me that I totally CAN put up a map board. A score card of the country to show where we’ve been… I Love the beauty of checking off the cities we’ve known. My regret is that we’re slow getting back there… My new Rwandan / French-speaking friend has just settled in. It sounds like he and his son have traveled an incredible path that is for the moment depositing them here in Columbus, OH. It’s interesting to chat with him about those decisions – he talks about how rich Life was in Rwanda but how you come to slowly realize that the area is a “self-selecting pool of upstarts” – meaning go-getters in this case – but technical go-getters. He says the place is populated with young engineers and data professionals and veterinarians who have battled their way to this “island of tranquility amongst insurgents and hardships and warlords” to learn skills and then move on – but that there are no artists, no musicians, “no guitar teachers to teach your son to play, no ballet teachers to teach your daughter”.
Heather takes her new pants for a spin. We all agree that a little more Lloyd Leg ain’t no bad thing Okay – I ate one of these and vibrated for like an hour. We’ve determined that the remainder of these cupcakes, though delectable and aesthetically pleasing probably have no more to offer us. Still – a picture shall last much longer than these treats will….
On the other hand he had a straw village to visit with a dog named whiskey and a dozen elders to teach him about playing djembe and how to feel the music in his belly. And his son has learned to hunt for dinner using bone arrows and a bow he’s made himself.
And so, seeking greater cultural fulfillment he’s landed in Columbus, OH. He thinks it’ll be a better place for his sons – he’s been at the Wayfaring Buckeye for about a week and has just purchased a house. I have caught him at the end of this window of time and I find his story the most fascinating of those around us… there’s another guy who’s just escaped his family in the south and is looking for someplace that speaks to him better. Another woman who’s found herself in the area because of family connections that bring burdens but no support. Ironically the 10 years of experience and the degree that have served her so well as a social worker in LA and DC can’t get her a job in her field in Columbus. Another guy can’t find a job in Cleveland and so stays at the Buckeye 4 days out of the week to work a job he hates…. But at least it’s work.
And then there was the “what do you MEAN you’ve never roasted a hot dog over an open fire” look! Needless to say, there was nothing for it at that point but to get the rob an education involving a stick and plenty of weenies! Ziggy, the Wayfaring Buckeye Guardian would like to sample the fruits of my hot dog labours. He is destined to be disappointed.
Others are wanderers and others are hanger-ons… Mat’s built not only a great hostel, but a great local community that pops in just to get the stories and taste of the new blood constantly filtering through.
It makes for a great Living room audience of attentive listeners as we give them a taste of what WE do for a Living.
Meanwhile, Heather’s kicking the tail-end of her cold (I hope, I haven’t seen her yet this morning) but she’s persevered. Saturday night was one of my favourite nights ever at the Columbus Bar – great show and a fantastic performance if I do say so myself and then the next morning Heather woke up with a lot of throat pain. The next night we played a truncated show in Bloomington. It was my first time to this Lovely little college town and the eyecandy is artsy and exquisite. We stumble across an musician’s co-op and I (channeling the spirit of my father, perhaps) interrupt before I notice there in the midst of a very quiet and intense conversation – but when you see such a collection of instruments and faces and the doors are wide open, how can you NOT wander in and check them out?!
They send us away with a really dazzling song that they’ve just worked out and I go away feeling at a loss because I apparently can’t talk with people fluidly unless I’ve played guitar at them first. Awkward social interactions continue till our gig that night at
Max’s Place with local guitar-slinger Jesse Lacy.
It was a tiny show, but we garnered some new fans, some of which were even older than 6! A note to venues: if the sound guy is also your head cook, planning and time management should be perpetrated BEFORE the music is supposed to hit the stage.
Well – enough out of me. I think I’ve lingered indoors too long. My phone tells me its 72 and sunny outside. If I had Siri in my pocket she’d probably be scolding me to go outside and PLAY!
