Friday, June 20, 2003
Another great open mic last night. During the evening I overheard a people remarking how good the performers were compared to other open mics, and it seemed like a few people had come down on the recommendation of others who had been to previous shows. One performer said she had come down from Syracuse just for the open mic. We're not getting the kind of turnout yet that the slam-poetry night attracts, but our crowd is steady, and growing I think. Maybe I should start a head count and compile bi-weekly charts.
At times it felt like the spirit of David Lynch was in the air. A couple of the performers would have been right at home in an episode of Twin Peaks. An older, very earnest, slightly ornery guy named Richard turned up wearing an enormous, aluminium framed rucksack and carrying three musical instrument cases. Over the course of three songs he played guitar and harmonica, mandolin and a thumb piano, all of which he played with supreme competency. The songs themselves were like Peter, Paul and Mary doing School House Rocks for nature buffs. As well as being a touring musician he's a conservationist and a geologist and all his songs were very specifically and literally about nature, meticulously referencing tree names and weather patterns, and using terms like "surface run-off". His performance was kind of disturbing and scary, while at the same time curiously engaging. A bit like a David Lynch movie.
Jonathan Ochshorn, a professor at Cornell who I've seen before playing piano at the rival open mic at ABC Cafe last night revealed himself to be a total genius performing the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a classical guitar. Not some jokey, tongue-in-cheek mockery. He played it faithfully, strumming down on the bass strings and rapping smoothly. It sounded like hip hop. It sounded awesome. He also played a song of his own which wasn't bad either. His piano pop puts me a bit on edge but when he plays guitar he's great.
At times it felt like the spirit of David Lynch was in the air. A couple of the performers would have been right at home in an episode of Twin Peaks. An older, very earnest, slightly ornery guy named Richard turned up wearing an enormous, aluminium framed rucksack and carrying three musical instrument cases. Over the course of three songs he played guitar and harmonica, mandolin and a thumb piano, all of which he played with supreme competency. The songs themselves were like Peter, Paul and Mary doing School House Rocks for nature buffs. As well as being a touring musician he's a conservationist and a geologist and all his songs were very specifically and literally about nature, meticulously referencing tree names and weather patterns, and using terms like "surface run-off". His performance was kind of disturbing and scary, while at the same time curiously engaging. A bit like a David Lynch movie.
Jonathan Ochshorn, a professor at Cornell who I've seen before playing piano at the rival open mic at ABC Cafe last night revealed himself to be a total genius performing the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a classical guitar. Not some jokey, tongue-in-cheek mockery. He played it faithfully, strumming down on the bass strings and rapping smoothly. It sounded like hip hop. It sounded awesome. He also played a song of his own which wasn't bad either. His piano pop puts me a bit on edge but when he plays guitar he's great.
Thursday, June 19, 2003
I can't believe it! I just saw a picture of the cover of the latest White Stripes CD and noticed Jack White is modelling a cricket bat! THAT WAS MY IDEA! MY IDEA! HE STOLE MY IDEA! I am so upset. I'm English goddammit. I should be entitled to carry a cricket bat on my album cover, but now he's gone and spoiled everything. I mean how many cricket teams do you think there are in Detroit eh? I'll tell you how many: ...well actually I don't know, but I bet it's not many. Close to zero I might guess. I suppose there's no way of knowing really, aside from going there and asking around. Maybe satellite imaging could tell you how many pitches there are or something. Anyway, the point is he's done it now, which more or less means I can't do it because I'll just be branded a White Stripes wannabe and no one will ever take me seriously.
"The old cricket bat routine", they'll say, "Didn't Jack White do that back in oh three?"
"That's just sad".
"The old cricket bat routine", they'll say, "Didn't Jack White do that back in oh three?"
"That's just sad".
Okay everything back to normal. Almost. My parents returned to England. They had a good time visiting and it was good to see them too. Now it's nice to have the place to ourselves again. Hey, we got our own bed back.
With Mum and Dad's departure came the sudden appearance of workmen on our roof, banging and hollering and appearing unannounced outside the bedroom window in the early morning as Kate and I get dressed for work. Most annoyingly their work on the roof brought down large amounts of debris on the inside of the attic where we store a lot of stuff, including musical equipment, furniture, Kate's business suits and so on. Thankfully, none of our stuff seems to be badly damaged, but what a mess. I spent three hours on Saturday cleaning the place up only for the workmen to return on Monday and make more mess.
With Mum and Dad's departure came the sudden appearance of workmen on our roof, banging and hollering and appearing unannounced outside the bedroom window in the early morning as Kate and I get dressed for work. Most annoyingly their work on the roof brought down large amounts of debris on the inside of the attic where we store a lot of stuff, including musical equipment, furniture, Kate's business suits and so on. Thankfully, none of our stuff seems to be badly damaged, but what a mess. I spent three hours on Saturday cleaning the place up only for the workmen to return on Monday and make more mess.
