Eclectic and international

10/2

RL opens

Time to talk to the sisters. Dion and I sit with the one who has been joining  in worship and open mic. Her sister is apparently not feeling well. A cold.  Dion has established a good relationship of kindness and compassion. I come off as the harder guy which as the minister I don’t feel good about. I tell them I’m glad they have found this to be a place of shelter and safety, that they feel comfortable here. But then that this is supposed to be place of temporary refuge, not a permanent home.  And that I’ve heard that they’ve turned down services from Project Reachout and the Manhattan Outreach Consortium. And that I need them to work with them to find shelter.

I tell Melissa I appreciate her skills and talents and spirit and would love to see her somewhere where she could knit or sing. That sitting at the church 8 hours a day is not a life. There is an endless chain of yes buts and expressed fears. I tell her they know that she and her sister have to be housed together, have to stay together. But to no avail. She has reasons why nothing will work. And when I repeat that this can’t be a permanent home, she says flatly, well ok then… I can see this is painful for Dion. Like it is for me.

Tonight’s Open Mic must be in the sanctuary because of the play Dracula in Mc Alpin Hall.

As always, it’s an eclectic night. RL opens, as always. We’ve got two visitors from Japan, on their first visit. Katsu blows us away with his recreation of the classic blues Key to the Highway. 

Katsu

Then Bang does a creative combination of traditional Japanese dance and hip hop including a masked number.

Katsu

...and in mask...

He invites  us all to come see him at the Apollo amateur night next week in Harlem.  Continuing the international theme, Carlos from Venezuela sings for us in Spanish.  

Carlos

David Smythe comes away from running the sound and does a set.

David Smythe

Dion does one of his most solid stand up sets. I play Spending Time With You, New Mexico and Carolina Comin’ Home. All originals. And RL. As always, closes us out with Stay Awhile. On any given Friday…. Great to see David Lyons back even though he doesn’t perform.