At the Monday J-Cherry Open Mic

Went to Middletown Monday night to check out the J-Cherry Anything-goes Open Mic at the Buttonwood Tree. I found at least one person I know there -, that wildman beataphile poet Sympetalous. He gave one of his energetic type 60's style poetry performances.  The posting below which I found on YouTube is not the performance I heard. But it gives you the idea....

hhttp://www.youtube.com/v/ZJdcEGBFBnM&hl=en&fs=1&

  As you can see from this video, one really fine feature of this open mic is the music folks will sort of jam behind the poets, so Stan had a backup band more or less.   This also happened behind a poetess who's name I am not sure of. It worked out fairly well both times.  They have congas, and some chime style percusion, sometimes someone has a keyboard or a guitar etc.  You really don't know what will transpire here. Once a musician named Tom who had improvised an a capella  song, got up and tap danced!

Got a chance to hear a relatively new duo Spencer and Sparks. Their harmonies worked very well and they sang original material. They are working on a CD to be out soon.

I played three of my original songs,  I Bet It All On You, Love Makes You Free and Wishing Stone. and plugged my myspace page.  I was a little surprised to get up there and find behind the music stand, a tiny olympus digital recorder with its red recording light on.

You can hear one recording of Spencer ad Sparks on the event's myspace page  where some of those recordings end up.  And as you can see from the video above sometimes someone puts it on YouTube as well.

This  did give me pause for thought that anytime you perform in public someone maybe recording you with one these tiny devices or with their phone - and if you are having an off night or just testing something out - well, some one posses it out there.  Maybe without your knowledge or permission.  Anyway its something to ponder in this new world file sharing world. And even before the recording question came up - it's long been a world where  singers and  bands cover their favorite famous performers and never ever credit the actual songwriter......

Molly Darcy's with Future Tense

Last Saturday I was at a writer's meeting all day, and drank about four pots of coffee. So Saturday night,  at about 9:30pm I hit on the idea of going out, since I was still raging on with the after-effects!

So I went to Molly Darcy's where I knew a few friends and relatives were taking a rock band called Future Tense.   It was a great time and I really enjoyed myself in the crazy rock 'n roll madness of the evening: with a great band, blinking lights, dry ice smoke, a packed dance floor, a multi-generational crowd, Mike and Paulette at the mic - and Dave that great bass-player,   DR on the keys, was that Ed Lange on the drums?  The new guitar guy spun out some great solos too.

This band has just been together for decades and it shows because they are tight!  For the facebook group, they have a fan page there.....   it's at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Future-Tense/58230551679?ref=ts

CT Folk Cycle Tour 2009

Last Gig: Sept 12, 2009: Hindinger Farms on the Tour des Farms, which offered two bicycle touring loops of scenic local farms with a different Ct folk musician entertaining at each stop. The tours were part of the Ct Folk Festival.


Well Sept. 12, 2009 was the day - I played at Hindinger Farm for the Tour Des Farms - a cycling tour that was part of the Connecticut Folk Festival. It was a stop on the longer 35 mile loop. The weather was cool but there was not a drop of rain.

After briefly overshooting the turn, I arrived around 9:15. I had plenty of time acclimate myself and set up before cyclists started appearing around 10AM. I played straight through to 11 when the last of them pedaled off up the hill. I had little trouble as my fingers got a bit cold. It was about 60 degrees when I started, and a tad early for my voice to function -- these days I usually practice at night. Mostly things went very well. I started out playing things in a little lower key because it was so early in the morning, around 10:45 I put the capo on and really could let some high notes peal out. I did repeat two songs, but I thought the folks that had heard them had gone.

"We're loving this," one couple told me. Another lady, a customer of the farm rather than a cyclist, asked me if I had a CD she could buy. Darn. I hope to remedy that this coming year... Another customer told me that having music at the farm, made her feel like she was in Vermont rather than a mile off a main road. I hope to get out and play more. I had the sense, at least part of the time, that I was really in the flow - and that's a really good feeling. Ms. H and all of the people at the farm were wonderful. They gave me a cup of coffee, and before I left I bought some veggies, fruit, and a big jar of jam. In order to have the full tourist experience I paid 50 cents for the special goat crackers. They sell goats milk and cheese as well.

Bent Pin: Howie Good and T.G. Mazur, over the edge of something...

Post about my dead ezine: 

Went with some hardwood flooring and a few fall leaves for the front of Bent Pin. There 's a new page up too, "over the edge, one way or the other"  one poem incorporates dying words from famous folk (by Howie Good) and the second (by T.G. Mazur), features the faith of the hang-glider & hang-gliding instructor as they leap from a cliff.....


UPDATE: Bent Pin closed in November of 2009. The Bent Pin Archive and Index are moving, albeit slowly.... to:

http://bentpinquarterly.blogspot.com   Note: the author index now at http://bentpinquarterly.blogspot.com/p/author-index.html is part of the archive

Heathcare reform, like some flowers, needs tending to bloom

I'm waiting for the mums outside to break open. They seem plush and plentiful this year, all without care on my part. I have done nothing to encourage them.  The holly harbors a flock of  red berries, and again - I have not lifted a finger for them. Might be all the rain we have had this season.

The summer geraniums remain red in their cement pots, but these I have pinched and prodded, snapping off the dead leaves,  spent blooms, and whatever parts rotted in the excessive rains this year. There are new buds on both plants.  The air is cool - it was in the 40's last night. I am beginning to believe its really September.

I also wrote to both Connecticut Senators and to my district representative to urge them to support health care reform.  Changes in law and policy are more like this year's geraniums than the mums.  They need a little encouragement to bloom unexpectedly....

Finally, a good night of sleep

Focus has always been a problem for me. As a jack of all trades, a casual experimenter with various art materials, technology and software - I find I am always spread too thin to really get into the groove of doing.

I currently have too much raw video
I have been staying up late, fiddling with the Wedpoetry.net website which was moved this week from blogger to wordpress.   I have been staying up late, and rising early for several weeks.

Last night, around 10:30 I laid down, just for a moment and woke up this morning feeling really good. I slept in my clothes, forgot the dog, (who i have to wake up to take out anyway..)   It seems we were both better off after a full night's sleep. Dog investigated the yard this morning, casually, without being in a hurry, and took care of business.  I think maybe I am going to try to get to bed earlier.

DEAR JOE LIEBERMAN -what's good for the goose....

"If we create a public option, the public is going to end up paying for it." - Senator Joe Lieberman

Ah how Joe Lieberman loves to send money and support to Israel.  Our government has given Israel $114 Billion dollars since its establishment (See Reference material)  And that doesn't count the dollars sent out of the US by all sorts of individuals and organizations.

But let's look at what kind of healthcare system Israel has...   Wiki says: "Health care in Israel is both universal and compulsory, and is administered by a small number of organizations with funding from the government. All Israeli citizens are entitled to the same Uniform Benefits Package, regardless of which organization they are a member of, and treatment under this package is funded for all citizens regardless of their financial means. "

Dear Joe - lets give Americans the same healthcare arrangements the citizens of Israel enjoy. According to the World Health Organizations rankings Israel has the 28th best health care system in the world, while Amercians have a healthcare system that ranks 37th.  Take a look at the list  - even Costa Rica has a better health care system.  Of course having a system of whatever rank can't help anyone who can't get access to it  - and having access is small comfort to someone who loses their home and everything they have to a collection agency hired by a local hospital......

So Joe Lieberman  - let's hear your reasons it's okay to subsidize Israel but Americans are too expenisve to insure.... Go ahead Joe tell us...