I ended up at an underground warehouse show tonight where I got to see Joan Jeanrenaud play.... AMAZING!!!!
Perfect sound, a raised stage, cafe tables with tablecloths and flowers, a bar and a sound booth, stairs leading to platforms and to rafters, paper umbrellas, a latter hanging from the ceiling hanging lights, heat lamps, old signs, projections on the wall, great musicians and great people.
The Bay Area never ceases to surprise me.
A curly haired little boy with glasses and a toy train - corduroy pants, a polo shirt, and a knit sweater.
Another little boy with a buzz cut and a baseball cap - starter jacket, warm up pants, and a bouncy ball.
A rainy Sunday afternoon in a laundromat...
"Hi! Nathaniel! Hi - do you remember me?"
"Ummm... "
"Do you remember me? I was in the class with you..."
"Ummm...hmm, I don't know...? Which class?"
The boy in the baseball cap's dad interrupted and politely said to the boy with the curly hair, "I remember you." Turned to his son and said, "Nathaniel, he was in the class with Miss..."
The conversation trailed off as my dryer stopped. My clothes were still wet, so I dropped a few more quarters into the machine. Another 15 minutes to wait. I tuned back in as the boy with the curly hair was quietly returning to sit with his dad...
A few moments later, the boy with the baseball cap approached the boy with the curly hair.
"Oohhhh, I remember you." He said grinning with recognition, as the bouncy ball slipped from his hand and the boys began to play.
The boy in the baseball cap's dad approached, and the dads began to chat. They seemed to have a nice conversation, but soon their laundry was finished and it was time for the baseball capped boy and his dad to head home.
The boy with the baseball cap looked at the boy with the curly hair and threw himself at him with a giant embrace saying, "Byeeee!" The curly haired boy didn't seem to know what to do. As the boy in the baseball cap and his dad walked out the door, the curly haired boy turned to his dad looking confused and kind of giddy. The curly haired boy's dad sort of shrugged/smiled, looked up ... and caught me smiling too.
:)
"Being an artist doesn't take much, just everything you got. Which means, of course, that as the process is giving you life, it is also bringing you closer to death. But it's no big deal. They are one and the same and cannot be avoided or denied. So, when I totally embrace this process, this life/death, and abandon myself to it, I transcend all this gibberish and hang out with the gods. It seems to me that that is worth the price of admission." - Hubert Selby Jr.
I was sitting on a folding table reading a sign that said, "Do not sit or eat on the folding tables!!" - when he walked in...
He was of medium height with light brown messy hair, a green t-shirt, and jeans just saggy enough to show off his skull and crossbone boxers...
I was sitting a little too close, given the laundromat was empty and I was sitting on the folding table right next to his dryers - which happened to be right next to mine.
He brushed past me, barely acknowledging my presence while I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
He ignored me...and I began to notice that some of his clothes seemed a little too flowery... "He must have a girlfriend", I thought - and his lack of acknowledgment made it seem like either I was, in fact, invisible... or maybe he was just that good of a boyfriend...making him all the more attractive...
After packing up about three loads of laundry, his girlfriend arrived to find me sitting a little too close. She gave me the once over for sitting next to (what she didn't realize was) my laundry. I wanted to tell her that she had nothing to worry about.
...and, that I couldn't believe there were cute men out there who were willing to do their girlfriend's laundry... !!
