JAMAICAN DISCO PARTY DRUNK JAMARAMA DING-A-LINGA DING DONG!
September 30, 2007
tonight, i played at a jamaican/cowbuy/hip-hop bar in galveston called yaga's. it was the loudest bar i have been in since college...i mean loud like the loud where you have to shout at the bartender, "I'll have a ...." and they yell back, "WHAT?" and you just settle for a beer. so loud that my hair was not only standing on end, it was on tippy-toes!
college age people drunk out of their minds, the loud thump thump thump of heavy bass roaring through the amps...when i hopped on stage to do soundcheck, they kept the music ON full throttle while trying to get my guitar/vocal levels...so people could keep dancing!...i had to chuckle when the soundman put on headphones to hear what mix he was getting on me in his head, since there was no way he'd have heard me otherwise
i went outside and called lance and told him i was DOOMED.
he said i'd be fine. i told him he should trade places with me immediately and come see how HE likes being on the wrong stage and i would be MORE THAN HAPPY TO BE WITH THE KIDS, at home,
reading books...he said that sounded GREAT! but, really, come on, you know we laughed (me nervously) since this ain't no star trek episode!
i was a little giddy with fear but feeling fearless in the world of bump and grind, the smell of salt water in the air, knowing a very nice hotel room (provided by the club) was waiting for me to rest my weary ears.....so i returned to the bar's stage (which looked like a dock, complete with decorative ropes and life rings). i decided i was gonna rise to the occassion so i could buy groceries for my family! i would revel in the JAMAICAN DISCO PARTY DRUNK JAMARAMA DING-A-LINGA DING DONG!
before i dug in, the co-owner, a nice woman named aubrey who was, i swear, MAYBE 24, came up to me on stage, to let me know i was going to be playing for college kids who liked to dance...did i do dance music, she asked?
i started to mentally spin, and i said, "uh...no." (i guess i was, at least, dressed the part cuz she actually PERCEIVED me as someone who does dance music....woo!)
she smiled and said, "ok, well, it'll be fine!"
they stopped the music, with about 8 people on the dance floor looking up at me with a "HUH?" expression on their faces... i busted into "mother's little helper", trying my hardest to create some sort of a dance groove, to which, almost immediately, a 55 year old drunk man jumped up on the stage and started shaking, I'm NOT kidding, his gianormous ass right into my guitar, as i hung on, now, to my guitar, praying, "dear god, let me keep my sanity...let me do my best" and then the dude's wife came and coaxed him down. i felt like a panda at the zoo...with nuts everywhere!
bathed in an orange spotlight...singing my heart out...the dance floor cleared...the bar stayed sort of steady for about two songs, then everyone went outside.
i actually said, on the mic, "well, now i can finally say i've cleared a room!" and then i started talking to the empty dance floor about my "band", and how sad the accident was, that i was dedicating the evening's performance to them...shoutin' out, "Johnny, this is for your broken femur!" and kickin' into a jam. it became a hilarious carol burnett show, me making up stories, short intros, singing songs, babbling to myself (and the sound man.)
i was supposed to do TWO 45 minute sets....but i courageously (and smartly) performed one long 90 minute set because, as the night wore on, more college kids started stumbling in (and i mean STUMBLING). they started filling the joint, so i knew there was NO WAY in hell i could take ANY break and then get BACK UP THERE on the stage... i knew the MINUTE i stepped off, someone would turn that super loud dance music on, and my getting back on after THAT would spell DISASTER with a capital "d".
Dash Riprock came in. He's very tall, I'd say 6' 4", with long, curly blonde tendrils cascading past his sunglasses. He stayed for the first 55 minutes, watching and listening to me perform, sitting on steps across the dance floor. At one point, he put a $5 bill on the monitor for me. Then, as I ended a song, he approached with a question, but I couldn't hear what he said...I leaned forward with an, "Excuse me?" and he repeated, "Are you married?" I enthusiastically responded, "Yes! With two kids!" and he said, "I really like your style. It's like mine. Who'd a knew ya had kids?" and then he
left.
He also left a flyer. He does Haunted Houses around the country. First thing he'd said to me, when he first came in and I was getting set up (mind you, with the ka-thumpa-ka-thumpa going on), first thing he says to me was, "I'm number 3 in the country for this sort of thing."
posted by Sara Hickman at 11:48 am
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my brain, roger, says:
September 28, 2007
i liked these gentleman:
richardson
kucinich
obama
joe biden
not necessarily in that order
i'm in galveston waiting to do a gig.
i like that richardson said he is against torture, he would shut down guantanamo, and that he would end the war and he is AGAINST eavesdropping, against the homeland security act
john edwards needs to stop smiling so much. i think he's probably a sincere person, but he smiles too much and it comes across as
silly (probably the same problem i have as an artist.)
altho john e. just said essentially the stuff richardson just said. good for him
obama comes across as in-touch, honest and and well informed. i like how he comes across as passionate about this process. i like, too, that he stands up for himself on the podium when someone misquotes him...you can sense the anger in his eyes for being misquoted, but he keeps his cool and uses the anger to push himself forward with ease and focus. he doesn't lose sight of the bigger issue: being a servant of the people.
kucinich is well-educated and has a lot of knowledge...just flows out of him...but he needs to stop saying the kucinich presidency, that kind of plug....i recognize that all the candidates are desperate to get us to remember their names and vote for them....but it just sounds
whiny, to me, anyway. he also has a good sense of humor
man, that hillary is smart, i'll give you that...she can think on her feet, you just see the wheels spinning...and she can not answer a question by asking a question or leaving you hanging. hmm.
what a weird time in the world.
i hope that the little white dog i saw evading the evening's traffic finds food. he was beautiful. a ghost in a city of neglect. if i had been in austin, i would have scooped him up and took him home, but i couldn't figure out how to get him into the hotel without someone noticiing, and he seemed skittish, at best.
then i saw a carriage drawn by a drawn horse, and he was getting pissy, backing up, causing the man with the reins to pull the whole shebang over to the curb. i wanted to get out of my van and march back and say "let the poor creature go to pasture and relax on sweet grass, why doncha..."
the one time i did that in new york, i got an ugly response.
oh, and one time in dallas, i was offered a free ride to an event in a buggy and i turned it down. i have never ridden in one of those contraptions. i don't care if i sound
punky about this. it is wrong to have those horses standing all day on hot, texas concrete, slugging people around who are giddy with ignorance of the plight of the creature pulling them around to see schlocky sites.
i guess this leads me back to presidential candidates. i don't want someone who goes with the flow, and hops in the carriage and expects me to think the way things are are fine.
i want someone who gets OFF the damn carriage, unhooks the horse and says, "hi-yah! there's a new sheriff in town, and we're cleaning up this mess." and that person finds new means for energy, replaces the manure of the past with integrity, can saddle his own horse but treats it with respect and remembers to water, feed and brush it down.
someone who knows the merits of hard work and stays after hours. someone who isn't in it for the money, the lobbists gifts and promises, someone who sees the tenacity of poverty and racism and sexism and figures out how to advance education, teachers' pay, health care for all, and puts jobs back into the hands of the american people.
only then can people return to self-respect by having jobs they enjoy, and have pride in, and all the CEOS are just one office down the hall, not living in grandiose mansions, spending the people's money who are hoping to send their kids to college, to retire, to have a vacation now and then.
i have decided no one is reading my blog, so i can just go on ad nauseum, here in my hotel room, by myself, wondering, once again, how to make the world a better place and feeling like the hole in the bottom of the sea. ..... i am just one grain of sand on an enormous, never ending beach of sand, everyone blogging and talking and drinking starbucks and listening to starbucks music and i'm just over here blah blah blahing...
happy, but blah blah blahing about whatever, and wondering: does it make a difference?
i hope i talk with my kids tonight. i'm out here missing my kids, gonna go sing and, yet, wondering...will they call me back?
i've decided i'll dedicate tonight's show to mia erichson and jerry haynes (mr. peppermint)
and i'll blog about that some other time.
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:00 pm
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Ricky on “Good Morning America!”
One of my best friends forever, Julie, sent me this link because her husband, Ricky, was on "Good Morning America" this morning!
History Pop Quiz
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3664047
Check it out!
I'm in Galveston for my show tonight at YAGA'S...first time to ever play in Galveston...I hope folks come out!
Had a blast at the Carnes private event I played in Houston last night.
Tomorrow...back to Houston to play at Bruce's Loft, a house concert.
Right now? I'm about to go walk the Strand, enjoy the smell of the salty air, and find the club I'll be at tonight. Also, I'll be looking into Tina's and The Admiralty, both owned by the parents of my friend, Wendy.
Doug Bryan, in case you're reading this...I will certainly post something about you soon...! Congrats on your new release!
posted by Sara Hickman at 12:06 pm
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a morning poem
September 23, 2007
quiet surprises
that greet your eyes:
like zipper spiders
through a morning's window
silently gliding
on silk
love,
sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 07:07 am
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Dear Sara
Dear Sara,
I've been meaning to write you for quite a while, ever since we saw you perform at the Unitunes show in Houston this past January. You might remember us as my wife, Leilani, is from the Philippines. She asked you to perform 'Simply'. Thank you for that.
The reason I'm writing is about children. You sang a song about the Romanian children. You were brought to tears. I've never seen that from someone on stage and I admire you for that. In that
song you mentioned many countries. That song brought to mind an experience. I had met what appeared to be a somewhat wealthy woman in Taiwan on my last trip to the Philippines trying to work out our own immigration problem with the embassy in Manila. She had adopted a Filipino child 3 or 4 years earlier. The child supposedly immediately becomes a U.S. citizen. Even with that
legal benefit the child still had to have a visa issued. At that point she could only visit her own child! As you can imagine there many many children there that need good loving homes. The irony is that even when one is provided there are still useless bureaucratic delays from a 'pro-family' administration. My two trips to the Philippines were real 'eye openers' as I was able to see first hand widespread poverty and over population. I strongly encourage every American to travel outside their 'envelope'.
My hope is that through your work with children and perhaps with some of your contacts that rule can eliminated or shortened. Many children could find loving parents in the U.S. What a blessing for everyone this would be!
Thanks for reading. Leilani and I hope see you next week on the 29th in Houston.
Your dear friend,
Michael
Dear Michael,
I WOULD like to help children more extensively. I'm not sure how to go about doing that, just yet, except to make my music about these issues and share it at shows, on my blog and
on my site. Currently, I am hoping to go to India with my oldest daughter next spring, to visit orphanages through the Miracle Foundation. I think at this point in my life, with children of
my own and the current performance schedule I keep, that I will continue to try and motivate others to get involved and help make change. But I will certainly do my best to bring the issue you have laid before me to those in the world of politics through my personal encounters and letters.
Thank you for your kind letter,
Gratefully,
Sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:22 am
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