You never know what Friday night will bring....

8/22

Jake and Nick

Another two interviews for Danielle’s position. This is really hard. Each of our interviewees has something to offer.

Pat O helps Stephen and I understand the whirlwind of activities surrounding architects and contractors and Department of Buildings and…so many moving pieces. Like a mobile. On the other hand, it’s reconstruction we’re talking about. Let that sink in. And then we work on the congregational revitalization part of the plan.

Sean comes in. He has greatly reduced his footprint. But no solution yet.  So he’s in to change clothes before returning to the street.

Our neighbor Jeff is back from vacation. Compliments my glasses. It’s depressing when people are coming back before I’ve been away.

Open Mic is in the sanctuary tonight. Can’t be in the chapel with the Texas Trilogy in Mc Alpin right above. The acoustics of the sanctuary will make this a special experience. It will be a small crowd. Late August in New York. Nobody’s in the city except tourists and people who enjoy the emptiness. Most of the regulars are here.

David Lyons

David Lyons, who runs the sound in a pinch, gets a bit bolder every week. Tonight he does two songs for the first time. And his wife and daughter are there to cheer him on.

Troy from London filling in at the bar.

Joel takes us on his usual fantastic journey

Joe Gold

and RL sends me up to follow. I know where I want to end up and work my way there with tow originals. Kind of a bitter set. But to honor Texas, I come out with Hank Thompson’s Wild Side of Life. (I didn’t know God made Honky Tonk Angels…) It feels good.

Anna brings in some hip hop guys who are subletting from Mitchell and need a rehearsal. I tell them they can’t until the play’s over. And they’re cool with that.

Pat O surrounds a Nick Drake with two of his better originals, his own song about Nick Drake (…his last song was a hymn..) and coming from his Irish history, Old Soldier.

Pat O

After my talk about the Trilogy, David L’s wife tells me her father Lee Richardson, was in the original casts in DC and New York. Remembered how the New York reception broke Preston Jones’ heart. He died shortly after, much too young. (Thanks again to ReGroup for bringing him back…) I love those West-Park cross currents.

Mandola Joe

Mandola Joe had actually been planning to do both Wild Side and Kitty Wells’ answer, It wasn’t God who made honky tonk angels…but I got there forstso he just does Kitty’s song and two of his declamatory  a capella songs.

Young Nick the banjo player brings up his guitar partner Jake fop ran original and two of  his psychedelic bluegrass covers. (Though they’re really reimaginings..) They finish with a guitar version of four hand piano. That was amazing.

And then, as always, Stay Awhile, solo instruments playing fro the pews when RL calls them out.  Time to head to the Gate….and thank Paul the owner for all his support of performances at West-Park.

                                                                    Hank Thompson

                                                                       Kitty Wells

Recent events in the world being what they are today

8/21

Short time in the office today. Catching a bus to visit son Dan in Philadelphia.

My friend from the Revolutionary Communists calls. Breathless. Has to see me. I tell him I’ve only got a short time. He tells me he’s hopping on the subway and be right there. And sure enough, he soon arrives.

They’ve been planning a big event for Labor Day at West-Park. Part of the BA Everywhere campaign. But now, Recent events in the world being what they are today…they haven’t had time or energy to focus on BA Everywhere. Maybe they need to just hold an old fashioned picnic in Morningside Park. Could West-Park be a fall back in case of rain? I assure him that’s not a problem.

He wants to talk about recent events in the world. The Eric Garner choke hold death on Staten Island. Eclipsed by the events in Ferguson. The seeming open season on black male youth. The relentless seige of Gaza. ISIS/ISIL... It all seems  interconnected. like a world aflame. (…high water everywhere…) He hands me a copy of the Revolution newspaper… The bold print cries out an agenda for October:

WE SAY NO MORE!

A Call for a Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation!

(Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Church USA is calling for Calm. And prayer. In response to that call my son Micah writes from Berlin seriously?)

I tell him why I’m going to Philadelphia and we talk about being parents awhile.

I continue to be fascinated, intrigued, puzzled by these folks. The common decency. Sincerity. Diligence. Commitment. It’s the devotion to BA, or precious leader, as the paper calls him in neoMaospeak that throws me.  Much of the analysis, well, pretty much there. But is this septuagenarian really the one to lead the worldwide revolution? 

I do find them easier to relate to than say, the youthful  Falun Gong or Korean Good News evangelists that visit periodically.

I think it was Walter Breuggeman who said that the opposite of faith is not doubt. It’s certainty.

And so, beyond a call to calm and prayer, what do we have to offer in response to recent event in the world being what they are today?

Things are rough out there

8/20/14

There’s a full day if interviewing candidates to replace Danielle. Young Latinas, each with their own gifts. One very professional looking who has helped her small Catholic church double in size.(That certainly appeals to me...) Men young. Men retired. Some candidates clearly have taken a training session in successful interviewing for jobs. Others natural and at ease. Too bad you can’t roll them together into a composite. Things are rough out there. (As Dylan would say, high water everywhere…)

One of the candidates very happy ot have a chance to play the Beckstein awhile. 

I look up and see Marina’s back. The first of the Noche gang to reappear. She’s heading out west to visit her family. Wanted to come onto the studio and work out since she’ll be away from dancing awhile. 

Summer is ending too quickly and I'm still here..

Gregory appears again with that look on his face. The over familiarity. Feigned intimacy. I offer to get him a round trip subway trip. Bu that’s somehow not enough.

Stephen W is back and jumps in to help with the interviews, his business sense a definite plus. We’ll need go out to dinner and catch up.

Pat O and Marsha are sitting down for a first go at a new budget. We’re walking a tightrope here.

Just as I’m about to head out to eat with Stephen, Sean appears. Needs me to help him call a friend who’s trying to help him with storing his stuff (which he has greatly reduced..) He’s been in  touch with another program that maybe…There is this touch of grace…There is something about Sean that does shine through. There is definitely a circle of people in the neighborhood who care for and look out for him. Sometimes that’s his only lifeline. Conversation finished, he says I love you man, into the phone and hands  it back to me. I’ll see ya Bob, he says. And wheels off.

Time to eat with Stephen then pay a visit to Rachel.

Those goddamn Mexicans. Maybe music will help...

8/19

Jeremy comes in to talk about Sunday services and we wind up going to Oaxaca for lunch. How can anything compare to a combo taco plate with a nopal (cactus), pollo mole and Korean (bul go gi and kimchi) taco combination plate?

Another interview for someone to replace Danielle. A really sweet older woman. I have to say how much I appreciate Leila’s presence. She has brought greater order to the office and has a strong quiet presence. I learn to appreciate her more and more each day.

A man come in seeking an unlimited metrocard. Says a church at 59^th and Lexington..way across town… told him to come here. Say what? Where exactly does that come from? I resent it when churches with much more money send people to see us where any money has to come from me personally. I can give him enough for a round trip metro card. That’s all I’ve got. Seriously?

Over 21/2 hours discussing a proposed lease with a lawyer is nothing short of exhausting. Are we willing  to put all our chips on the table? I am feeling drained.

As I come back to the church, I encounter Keith. He’s still trying to get veteran’s assistance for a much needed operation. How is it that these volunteer veterans sent to Iraq or Afghanistan wander our streets suffering from PTSD and God knows what else from wars we can’t even figure out what we’re trying to win? It makes Colonel Kincaid in the Oldest Living Graduate all the more understandable. It just never ends. Never ends. We keep sending soldiers to give their lives for what? Are these homeless wandering veterans really that much better off than those who died? Well OK,  that’s a rhetorical question.

Hey pastor, Keith says. You know what they’re trying to do to my governor? (He’s talking about Texas Governor Rick Perry.) They’re trying to indict his ass. It’s all about the goddamn  border. Those goddamn Mexicans. Keep coming across. Do you realize it costs us Americans, us hard working people, $378 per Mexican? Those goddamn Mexicans…

I look at him. And have no idea what to say.  Finally I say, Keith, I hope you get the help you need soon. You can’t keep living on the steps You’ll die. Let me know if I can help…

Even though I’m emotionally and physically exhausted, I’m on my way to Esther’s. A night of making music with her and Katie just might help.