Nous saluons le retour, Victoire. Ya Coots!

2/12

Singing with Victoire

It’s been a long day so I’m looking forward to Open Mic Friday, now under the direction of the 3 D’s, Dion and the two Davids.

Rachel has come to hear David L open the show.

David Lyons opens

  But the dog is not too excited about this. (One of David’s best songs: Why don’t you love me like my dog does…)

The first part of the show feels like the Upper West Side Senior Citizen All Star Review as a bloc of old friends has signed up. Gene Cross plays some originals backed up by Helen Cohen who also performs. 

Gene and Helen

Nancy Morera does an old Irish folk song.

nancy Morera

And Shirley Eiten performs some old standards.

Shirley Eiten

This, as we like to say, is why we are here.

In the  middle of this bloc,  I’m overjoyed when I see French singer Victoire and her new husband Henri walk in, fresh from their time in Brazil. It’s been at least a year since they’ve been here.

Victoire and Henri

After strewing the floor with papers and other detritus, setting the stage, so to speak, Patricia Lewis closes this part of the show with an extended monologue called French Fries, which takes place in a McDonald’s.

Patricia Lewis and French Fries

Sound man David S does another of his classic acoustic rock sets which he does so well. And then it’s my turn. Since I saw Victoire walk in, I completely redo my set. I open with my closer,  Carolina, since it’s new and she hasn’t heard it.  Then my raucous Love Again Tomorrow. I tell everyone to please stick around because they are in for a surprise.  Then I invite Vic up to join me on my Queen of the Factory Town song.

We’ve done this before and I love how she weaves her voice through the song. It feel so good to do this again.

Dion does one of his tightest stand up sets yet.

Dion

And then it’s time for Victoire.

Victoire

Her voice has a breathy smoky quality rooted in the folk tradition but with echoes of Brel and Piaf and Paris cafes and something else that is completely her own. She sings  two songs in French and then a new one she wrote in English that is a paen to the old chapel and the old cowboy. That is here, this open mic, and RL. After that, Daivd L decides not to try and follow that performance but to just quietly end the night.

Underscoring  my happiness is a profound sadness. Victoire and Henri came in tonight wearing the Dusty Withers badges they’d received from RL . Dusty being the title character of RL’s 1950’s radio cowboy show recreation with his own unique sense of humor. The Dusty badges were cherished gifts given to the guests he invited to his studio in upstairs Room 3A.

Dusty

They wore them in anticipation of a homecoming with RL and the very first music community that welcomed her to New York City from France. Before she left she had also become a part of the Sunday morning community as well. She should have found him there. And Mandola Joe.  And Pat O. 

It was a good night. But all of us here owe something to RL. David L played his first public performances at one of RL’s shows.  Dion gained confidence to do stand up from RL. And became a key member of the West-Park church community. David S, now our handy man, also came via RL. As for me, he gave me a place to begin playing again after 30 years and the confidence that allowed me to go out in public again, touring with Pat O to some 30 venues last year.(That groundbreaking tour had its genesis here.) He critiqued my songs, with no mercy but lots of care. Got my old Epiphone rehabbed and got me my first gig bag so I felt like a bonafide touring musician.

His open mics, were accepting and supportive and at their peak, created a community of people who respected and cared for one another, as musicians and as people. Few other open mics give you 3 songs, which gives you enough time to feel out the audience, screw up  and still have time to recover.  The 3 D’s remain faithful to that tradition.  What is not seen by some is so often so much more valuable than what is seen. There is no price on what happened to us inside..

He did this because he wanted to support the reconstruction of the church and to support this musical tradition. No fan of can you top this jams, he was often brought to tears by impromptu unlikely collaborations that could come out of nowhere on any given night just because. Well, yes, and to have a place to play and collaborate himself. We still haven’t been able to figure out how to finish the night without his signature Stay Awhile

That's why Vic and Henri wear the Dusty Withers badge. In the last year, she’s toured Portugal and Brazil. She has a new recording out and is under consideration for a major festival this summer. Two nights from now, she’s got a serious gig at a funky French-Mexican venue in hip Williamsburg with another French singer, Marine Futin, who recently played the storied Apollo. Her American adventure began right here, with RL. And that’s why she wrote the song.

Nous saluons le retour, Victoire. And yes, Ya Coots!

Au Revoir, Victoire

11/7

Open Mic

I walk into the darkened sanctuary and hear a voice. It’s Anna singing Go tell it on the mountain. I generally hate the way the Christmas season now seems to come the day after Halloween filling November. Kind of depresses me. But there’s something about the  simplicity of Anna’s voice and the song in the half-light that cheers me.

Back from meeting with Marc and Elise to plan a benefit for the Interfaith Assembly in December. At West-Park. Julie Gold, who wrote From a Distance,

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4q9JUMF0oc)  will be with us.  And John Jiler, author of Sleeping with the Mayor, which documents the 200 day occupation of City Hall Park by the homeless, that brough the Assembly to life. (http://www.johnjiler.com/books/).

Just enough tine to catch up with Pat O reviewing the week before going with Elise to meet the Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador. Bringing back lots of memories of my time there in the ‘80’s during the dark days of the Death Squads. Going with John Fife to see the young Catholic students photographing the latest victims before the bodies were carried away by the government so that thee would be a record of the disappeared at the Diocese for families. US Ambassador Dean Hinton. FMLN leader Ruben Zamora. The Maryknoll sisters at the orphanage at Zaragoza making us an American Thanksgiving with pavo real mole and pastel de manzana.. Our surprise commands meeting including a ride in a Cherokee with dark windows, with Roberto D’Aubisson, nicknamed Bobby Blowtorch. The sense of apocalypse. Our visit to the prison known as CAIN. Later I would meet someone I met there in a deportation jail in Noglaes.

Salvador made it into democracy somehow only to lose vast parts of the country to drug gangs and tied to the Los Angeles underground.  The reign of death is hard to defeat.

I leave the dinner early because I have to be back for Victoire’s last night at West-Park. I get there in time for Nick’s banjo set.

Nick Lantigua

And Rabbi Steve on uke again.

Steve Blane

And Pat O’s original about one of our nights at the Gate.

Pat O

And another stellar set by Mandola Joe.

Mandola Joe

And A set of ‘80’s rock by David Smythe and another David S and then Victoire’s farewell set. We’re all moved by her emotional response to her time with us.

Victoire

Then it’s my turn. I invite Vic up to join me on  my Queen of the Factory Town, which she had me write down so that she could learn it. She gives me a harmony and I feel great to have her sing with me. 

harmony

Then Pat O comes up to join me on You Never Even Called Me By My Name, by Steve Goodman for David Alan Coe. I change the lyrics for our crowd and do my own version of the spoken word part in the  middle. Finally, Mandola and Victoire and young Jeremy and Pat O all join me on Long Black Veil with Mandola sharing my mic.  And most stay on stage for RL’s Stay Awhile.

Stay Awhile

That moment, singing Long Black Veil with a full stage, harmonies all around--- it’s as close to happy as I get. The constant  frustration and stress fly away while voices join and I play rhythm to Pat’s lead and Joe’s mandolin.

We will all go out together to celebrate the night. Au Revoir, Victoire....

Halloween 2014

10/31

Halloween.

 Pat O comes back from a meeting with the Department of Buildings triumphant. They had not actually denied our application for a Letter of No Objection, only not approved it. (Bureaucracy.) They needed a better understanding of what activities take place in this church.  And halfway through the meeting, our Borough President Gale Brewer showed up, waited, then weighed in, with helpful precedents from our neighbors, like SPSA.  And at the conclusion of it all, our code consultant (new name for expeditor) said, wow, you guys must be really well connected…They will let us know soon, perhaps even Monday, of their decision. Point is, Gale came through. A political victory, if nothing else.

Then we meet with one of our theatre people, Lee, who wants to know our wish list, our dream list. She may have a line on some significant funding source, if job creation is part of the project. We try not to get too many hopes up. But then, you just never know. Just never know.

Halloween.

Pat K has brought in skulls and other decorations. Our neighbor Jen  has brought candy.Leila has created a spooky environment in the front of the church.

Trick or treaters

Nanna 

Our artist friend from Denmark, Nanna, has come to help give treats to the tricksters…and to learn about  holiday with which she is unfamiliar.  And Leila has brought masks.

Leila did the decorations. And brought the masks

First to arrive are a family from France. With two little girls. Heading back to France tonight. They do a cute recitation ending with …and if you haven’t got a hay-penny, then God bless you…with a heavy French accent. And we give them their treats.

That starts a steady stream of costumed kids and parents. All goes well until one little girl, who has apparently had too much candy, let’s fly seemingly twice her volume in  regurgitation. Her mom tries to help. I wind up with the mop. Late in  the day, Jen drops by with her kids. When we close up, Nanna is ready to head to the Village. I’m not sure she knows what she is in  for.

A steady stream

And soon enough, it’s time for a special Halloween edition  of Open Mic. There are, of course, costumes. David L as a cowboy. 

David Lyons

RL with his duster, his all black western gear and his long barreled pistol.

Don't draw on RL

Young Jeremy

Jeremy

as a pimp with gold chain, hat and cigar. And later, Victoire as Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Vic

and Henri as a pirate. Mandola Joe, well he comes as the green man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man) although with his homemade hat from his grandmother’s pillow, he could pass for a leafy byzantine pope.

Mandola Joe as the Green Man

The music picks up scary themes as well. But tonight’s real surprise is my friend Beppe with his gong. He uses it in a multifaceted way, creating a sonic journey akin to what the contemporary electronic musicians do. But with an acoustic instrument with a variety of mallets, brushes, other devices, and wind chimes. And we are all entranced. Joe is especially moved.

Beppe and gong

Joel and Srteve

 There's another Joel and Steve collaboration and Steve does hi sown set with his ukelele.

Steve solo

Pat O

Pat O has an extended solo with his new electronic pedal board.

I start by explaining that my friend said that I should be a Pirate for Halloween, so that is why I am wearing my Pirate jersey. (Number 21, Roberto Clemente, the great one…) I do three scary songs.  My own Johnny Walker Red, Dylan’s …Hard Rain…(I’m finally getting it  down enough to really push it…) and bring Pat O and Mandola up for Long black veil, the first song we ever did together.

Bob

Little Red Riding Vic’s Halloween miracle is convincing RL ( I said I don’t play top back up other people…) to join her and Mandola Joe on stage for House of the Rising Sun. (I love how she rhymes sew…with new so that it sounds like sued my new blue jeans..)

Vic's dream comes true

And Henri performs for the first time, a traditional  song and then La Marseillaise, the French national anthem.

La Marsellaise

Neighborhood friend David York closes out the night.

David York

And then, as always,  Stay Awhile as a closer. Yet again another good night.

Halloween.

 

Two pirates

Still want my horse

8/2

Marie comes in accompanied by many associates, friends, partners. I give them the full tour and ideas are soon flowing free. At the least, we’ve got Glen’s night of new readings coming up. Based on experience, I am always some combination of excited and sceptical when someone  comes in with seemingly boundless energy and a sense of “calling” to do great works to make everything here right. Been there. And there’s usually a painful conclusion waiting. But I’m always open to try one more time. 

RL comes in with a progress report on what his crew has been up to. And ready for s break before opne mic time.

Stepping outside, it’s mid afternoon. I see one of the Barney Greengrass crew coming up the street with an armload of Starbucks take out. Uh...I say.

Look, he responds, in the morning, our coffee’s just fine. But by mid afternoon, i need a break. We all need a break..I nod, say I got it. 

Karen’s music is filling the sanctuary again.

The mumbling man walks in. Danielle goes to to speak to him. Soon enough, he’s on his way. Never seems to come through that when we say we have no money, we have no money.

Soon enough it’s time for Open Mic. What will tonight’s surprises be? Mandola Joe still has his arm in a sling. Another night of a capella for him. Jamie arrives with Don. I’m glad to see them here. Her son Max is tending bar tonight.

The night opens with an old friend of RL’s (Joel?) doing a beat monologue with echoes of Lord Buckley.

victoire overkampf

                                                Danny Kalb "Shake Sugaree"

For my set, I do a new one, an old one, and finish with Libby Cotton’s Shake Sugaree. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRkjNmHOGeg) I learned it from Danny KalB(.\,  http://dannykalb.net/?)p=266While the Grateful Dead held down the west coast, the Blues Project worked the east. Then Danny disappeared for about 40 years. A couple of years ago, I heard him in an afternoon concert. The sun was setting. He told his story.  After a short burst of fame, decades of wandering, addictions, homelessness. As I heard him sing everything I had is done and gone, I realized that he had truly become what he wanted to be 40 years ago, namely an old blues man. So I sang that song, aware of how much of it was mine. 

                                                     Victoire Overkampf

First surprise, Victoire Oberkampf from France. Just in from Paris. With songs in French and English, she wins us over. She and her friend are on their way to Burning Man. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NHyYFwU5pA) (https://www.facebook.com/oberkampf.victoire) 

                                                                         Blake Pfeil

And then, right when we are ready to close, in walks another guy, Blake Pfeil.

Blake Pfeil

(http://www.blakepfeil.com/)He sits at the piano, Andrea’s Mom’s piano, the piano Micah learned on, and plays his Broadway/cabaret style of original music. Jamie pens up her phone to share the music with Don, our very own Broadway guy. He so captivates us that after his third song we invite him to keep going.  We talk. he’s a legitimate theatre actor. Just finished New Jersey Shakespeare. Hoping he’ll come back. Bring friends.   

Jamie and I go up to RL”s studio. Soon joined by Nancy.Typically wide ranging conversation including silk worms and raw silk fabrics. And where and how that raw silk comes from. We talk about the original deed Danielle and i found today in the safety deposit box. The prohibitions section. What we couldn’t do  here. All in magnificent late 19th century cursive. No breweries. Or distilleries. Or soap manufacture. or candle making, tanning or nail manufacture. Or steam engines. Or slaughterhouse or keeping of cows or pigs. Or livery stable. Except for one space for the pastor’s horse. As Nancy points out, not a description of what was, but a catalogue of fears of what could be in a sleepy rural neighborhood. 

When we go outside, we encounter our stowaway. He’s desperate to stay. Just a few more days. I say No. Jamie takes over, describes reality as it is. My stomach hurts,but I don’t yield. Getting him a permanent place with whatever help he needs, that is the focus. 

I still hurt when everyone leaves. I still want a horse.