Posts

Random thoughts on a warm Summer night:

  I know. It has been a while. In Sept of 2018, as my Dad was in his dying process, I listened to one CD pretty much on repeat on the trips back and forth to the hospital, then the hospice. Believe it or not, it was John Mayer's 'The Search for Everything' Cut #3 Helpless was kind of an anthem. 'If I'm helpless tell me now, Tell me now, And I'll stop trying to figure it out.' We were in fact helpless in the process, it felt at times almost voyeuristic watching him journey ever so slowly but inexorably towards his eternity. A journey that he had to take alone, albeit with spectators.   Cut #1 'Still feel like your man ' is my favorite song on the album, because I identify with the idea of the static nature of loss, as it applies to grief and change. But the one that I played repeatedly after his death was cut #8,  'Moving On and Getting Over' 'Moving on and getting over, Are not the same, it seems to me 'Cause you've been gone, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art Is. An old joint from 2003 that I recently re-discovered..

  Art is © 2003 MissionGroove   Art is subjective           Art is objective              Art can objectify                 Art can glorify              Art is political           Art can be Spiritual Art is Alive Art moves, takes different shapes and grows. Art breathes and gives the breath of life.     Art can speak volumes, in total silence, yet says a thousand different things to a thousand different people        Art is everywhere, though some try to contain it in ugly buildings and make you pay to see it.           Art tends to show up in the strangest places.   ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Clubdate Singer Speaks! Chapter 5: Bones & Tambo or. Sambo 2002

“Bones & Tambo or. Sambo 2002” I try to keep a safe distance, at least mentally, during the gigs. For one, it allows me to keep in mind that this is just a job, and a step on the ladder. I have to think that way, you see, because I have higher goals, loftier aspirations. Another singer once said to me, “Nobody’s EVER been discovered on a Clubdate” Truer words have not been spoken. I have to keep this in mind because I’ve played with some guys who for them, this is the pinnacle. This IS “show business”. This is as far as they’ll ever get, and they have resigned themselves to this fact. That is NOT my confession. This is a means to an end; I just have to be vigilant, watch the skies, and know when the season is at its end. I apologize, this is not the direction that I planned to go… The second reason that I keep my distance is that there is a level of minstrelsy to this job, which is inherent. It is very difficult for me. When I began in the band, one of the things that were mand...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Clubdate Singer Speaks! Chapter 15: Performance anxiety

Performance anxiety: Chapter 15 Sept 2005, Philadelphia,   Pa   L enny (not his real name) and I prepared for the event in similar ways that day. I am sure of it. I know because of how he said the Word “Oh” .   The band was doing a wedding in Philadelphia at a very expensive, gaudy, and dimly lit room. I was leading that night, and Lenny was the Maitre’D.   We were both subbing; me for Johnson (because the band was split in 2, that day. Johnson had Rev. & the Queen, and I had Summer and another brotha with me) Lenny for the house’s main guy, who’s Mom had died that morning.   Invariably, black people prepare longer for their interactions with white people than vice versa. ( I bet right now, that if you’re black, you’re nodding your head in assent, and if you’re white the thought never crossed your mind.)   And today’s preparation was two-fold. Blacks in positions of leadership have to call on (and balance) the oft-opposing mind...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Clubdate Singer Speaks! Chapter 3: The Platter

  "The Platter" November 2001, the Vanderbilt Hotel. There was a couple at the function. Your average Woody Allen looking rich guy, mid 50's I would guess, and his 30-something girlfriend.  She was wearing an extremely tight and ugly dress. They stood out for a couple of reasons: 1) The dress was a silver and black striped monstrosity, clearly not for an elegant affair. Kind of trashy, actually(and as it turned out, this was appropriate ) 2) Their behavior was wantonly sexual on the dance floor. They took 'Dry humping' to a new level. At one point coming dangerously close to knocking over the wedding cake with their arrhythmic gyrations. It got progressively worse as the night wore on, and by our 3rd set: Summer turned her back to the dance floor when they came out. Finally,the inevitable. The Music, the Liquor, the lust proved too much for our couple, and the woman began to pull her dress up as she danced, lower and lower she crouched, higher and hi...
Post a Comment
Read more