Last night we held our second open mike at the One World Cafe since prior to the pandemic. I did three tunes and may upload the other two later. (For now, “Daddy” should suffice.) Sound design by David Harlan, filmed by Jens Hegg. Enjoy.
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(1) I’m grateful for how peaceful and quiet is right now in Room 33 at the church. Often I am frustrated when a friend calls me as I’m out and about, and I can’t find a single spot to relax and listen, where I can actually hear what they’re saying. Grateful for this spot and for the occasional phenomenon of “peace and quiet” in general. With a mind as noisy as mind, external quietude can be a real blessing.
(2) A brief conversation with my pastor reminded me what an extraordinarily good listener he is. Not many people would have understood what I was saying, let alone have been able to empathize. I’m happy to have found this church.
(3) The second therapy session furthered my feeling that this therapist is particularly outstanding among all therapists I’ve tried. Stuff is already emerging that’s causing me to take a step back and think about how I’ve been going about things lately, as well as throughout my life in general.
(4) First night at PIPPIN rehearsal went very well and was informative. The only downer is that I have to play one of those modern electronic pianos, instead of the time-honored old Hamilton clunker I’m used to using to get the “boom-chuck” that is the hallmark of American show tunes. If you’re on the older side, you might identify. They all thought I did just great. Me, I left the theatre thinking: “I need four things: a hearing aid, reading glasses, a water bottle, and an acoustic piano.” Seriously, I am thankful for the opportunity.
(5) After living in a city composed almost entirely of White people throughout the past five or six years, it was refreshing to be in a city where I encountered people of different races and cultures. The gentle drizzle and cloudy sky, combined with hills and a metropolitan flair, reminded me quite a bit of San Francisco. After rehearsal, I went to an Open Mike at a very large, sophisticated pub with un upstairs section and several dining floors. I got to play a Young Chang concert grand – one of the finest pianos I’ve ever played. The experience was an eye-opener. There’s a lot more to life outside the curious little hamlet where for almost six years I have been so pleased to dwell. But if I were to move anywhere, how long would it be before I became homeless again? I don’t have a very good track record of holding on to living situations. I am grateful for my community, my apartment, and the love I have found in the city where I was born.
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Somebody sent me this little gem last night. It’s the old English ballad “Dives and Lazarus,” based on the story of the rich man and the beggar in Luke 16. The tune is incidentally often heard in 3/4 time as the hornpipe, “Star of the County Down,” and in some hymnals it becomes “Canticle of the Turning.” The violinist is my multi-talented friend, the late Paul Anders, whom you may have seen on other instruments on this site. I’m not sure when we did this one, but I recall it was a beautiful night.
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Happy Independence Day, to whomever it may apply. It applies to me in numerous ways, not the least of which is that I finished a working script and score to my musical Eden in Babylon on Independence Day, exactly one year ago today. And now, may I present you with a third version of my song “Rosy.” This is from last Friday’s open mike.
Andy Pope on the Yamaha at the Open Mike
at the One World Cafe, Friday June 29, 2019.
“Rosy” from In Lies We Trust.
Copyright © 2019 by Andrew Michael Pope. All Rights Reserved.
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Before we go much further, I probably ought to let my close followers know how the radio show went. It went great. And not only that, but a couple of very interesting events occurred immediately before and after the interview.
Not having done a radio interview since 1987, I was extremely nervous. I was so nervous, I had a hard time praying before the show. I was grabbing a bite to eat at the Courtyard, when I prayed: “Lord, please let me run into another believer who will pray for me, because I cannot pray.” (Ironically, when I said, “I cannot pray,” I was praying.)
I believe that prayer was heard. I had barely taken one step out the door of the Courtyard, when someone locking their bicycle said hi to me. But I didn’t recognize her with helmet and haircut. As she took off the helmet, I realized she was Amanda from my church.
So I explained the situation and asked her to pray. Then I got to the studio right on time, and the entire event flowed beautifully. It wasn’t perfect, of course. But it was a lot better than I’d feared!
Immediately after the three hour event was over, I went to the bathroom and thanked the Lord. Then I asked Him what I should do next. (I’ve been doing that a lot lately, because I’m such a space case I often don’t know what the next logical thing to do is.)
The still small voice clearly said: “Relax and rejoice.” I’d never heard that combination before. But it sounded right to me.
As I left the studio, an incredible peace came over my entire being. It was the most peace I had felt in my spirit since the day when I played the entire score on the piano of Dan Bukvich, the noted composer and percussionist. His reply had been: “We gotta get this thing staged!”
After that, I was at peace for about six hours. I’m not a person who ordinarily experiences that depth of peace. (In case anyone hasn’t noticed, I’m one of those “high strung space cases.”)
This time, the peace was not quite so enduring. But while I was immersed in a blissful peace, approximately five minutes after I had left the studio, I saw a fellow with a backpack, and I heard a familiar phrase.
“Hey, you dropped your smile!”
This expression was used a lot by panhandlers in Berkeley, during the years when I was homeless there. Sometimes people were offended. In this case, the young woman merely smiled. You see, we have only one visible homeless person in this entire town. So it’s very unusual to run into a homeless chap up here.
Smiling, I asked him: “Did you just say, ‘you dropped your smile?””
“Yeah! Are you homeless?”
“Not anymore.”
“Me neither. I just got myself a small house on the edge of town, after being homeless in Seattle for years.”
After a brief but warm conversation, we parted ways. I then reflected on how this sudden radio show had come about. I had played a song at the Open Mike which we hold on the last Friday of each month in the quiet little Art-positive hamlet in which I dwell. Then I found myself shooting the breeze with one of the other participants in the event, and it turned out he needed somebody for his radio show the following day.
The song that he heard, by the way, was this:
“Simple Love Song” © 1976, 2019 by Andrew Michael Pope
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I received this unexpected video gift in my inbox yesterday. A guy named Paul Anders is playing the cajon while I’m doing a song I wrote called I Am the Blues on a Yamaha electronic piano. The beginning was chopped off, but I’m posting it anyway, since it’s the first thing I’ve posted musically other than solo piano since having miraculously been resurrected from the Grave of Homelessness after twelve years of turning over in it.
You can click on the song title above for the complete lyrics. By the way, this is from last Friday’s Open Mike at the One World Cafe, and the person who videoed it was Brandy Sullivan, the co-owner of that venue.
I’ll post another solo piano piece, as usual, on Friday. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this “snippet.” :)
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So apparently somebody heard me playing at the Open Mike last Friday and posted this picture on his Facebook:
I don’t personally use Facebook, but I knew something was up as soon as I hit the downtown main strip this morning. All these people who know me as a social activist were coming up and saying: “I didn’t know you were a musician!”
By the way, the song I played and sang was The Word from Beyond from my new musical, Eden in Babylon. The link is to the lyrics, and if you want to hear an instrumental rendition of it on my SoundCloud, be my guest:
Otherwise, I must confess the obvious. I mainly posted this here in lieu of a piano video because I once again didn’t get it together. I didn’t get it together because it takes two people to produce those vids — one to play the piano, and one to make sure the recording device (i.e., the smartphone) is mounted in its proper place. And each of the people who usually help me happen to be on extended holiday vacation. :(
So, after much consternation, I have decided to postpone the piano posting till next Friday. At that time, I hope to provide my unique rendition of “Wintertime Love” to whoever is available to receive it. And may Jim Morrison be rolling over in his grave — with laughter.
Please donate to Eden in Babylon.
A little bit goes a long, long way.
Eden in Babylon 