so, last Sunday, February 24 i put together + hosted a last minute open mike event in Lowell affectionately called ‘The ALL Gallery Impromptu Open Mike Celebration + Take Over‘ … basically The Arts League of Lowell opened the floor to members to see who would want to not only watch the space from an art and gallery management perspective but also perhaps hold an event in the space to help celebrate the current Winter Salon exhibit { fantastic stuff by the way … favourites being a large ceramic frog [ lots of amazing color + texture ], a cool fabric bulletin board panel that visually looks very medieval, some great paintings [ one being this sort of seascape in mixed media w/ goldfish or something right over by the window, off to the left when you enter the main gallery space ] } … i believe that the extended show has its closing today … i was very happy to not only participate from a photographic standpoint w/ 2 pieces in the actual exhibit, but also from this event side of life …
as i began to put the event together … only getting notice that i had the ‘go-ahead’ sometime earlier in the week, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday at best … i immediately thought this should be an open mike … + where there is music + poetry + conversation there should be coffee! right? of course … so, all that said i immediately thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to connect w/ my good friends up at The Javaroom at Gingerale Plaza in Chelmsford
so, i emailed Candy to see if we could exchange some positive energies, right? lately i’m all about good karma + positivity … + i had heard that recent write-ups in The Lowell Sun got a bit of good exposure out there for The Javaroom … a little interview w/ Candy, some specifics about one of the hot beverage drinks w/ ‘a little something something’ in ‘em, right? oh … here’s the article, right here … Cafe Mudslide … check it out, aight?
well, i have to say, Candy + The Javaroom came through + went over + above any expectations i might have had for this event … i was simply thinking ‘coffee’ … sort of a primitive ‘me want coffee’ < governor of California vocalization + accent please > … but Candy + The Javaroom crew got back to me superFast w/ a ‘yes’ + some ideas around what they could offer as a donation to the event … coffee, tea + mini-scones … just amazing … we quickly coordinated via email + phone + anyone that attended the event can attest to the high quality of coffee + pastry accompaniment … we put out some promotional material to hopefully bring the crowd at The ALL Gallery that day full circle for a future trip to The Javaroom … i made sure to mention the amazing coffee, spectacular events + evening cocktail set-up they have at The Javaroom … a veritable oasis for the entire community on so many levels … a warm + cozy cultural mecca for Chelmsford, Lowell + other area communities + businesses …
come to find out that some of the ‘ALL Open Mike’ participants attending on February 24 actually hold a near-monthly poetry event at The Javaroom … the group is called something like The Lowell Poetry Society { please correct me when you can if you are reading this } and Stephan Antsey, founder and editor-n-chief of Shakespeare’s Monkey Review graced us with some of his amazing poetics …
we were also extremely lucky to have poets Catherine Wang Hsu and Carol Nelson making the trek out from our regular jaunts at Outloud Open Mike @ The Beebe … fantastic work { i actually have to help locate Carol’s re-writings of The Bible, amazing work … + get it back to her asap … still sorting through the van + getting back to life as normal, or as normal as it gets for me, right? ;] … the piece was called ‘Her Story’ … Catherine read some new work as well as selections from last year’s collection ‘Shadows and Light‘ … pick up a copy today, i highly recommend it } … + then last but not least we were joined by musician Kenan Cooper who not only played a few sets throughout but also kindly assisted w/ the set-up + breakdown of all the music equipment … Impromptu sometimes implies grassroots disorganization { no knocks against humanity in action … form of ‘grass’, shape of ‘roots’ … } which implies ‘hey, jump in + help out’ } … i was psyched to drum on a few coverSongs including James’ ‘Laid’ + a superMellow rendition of ‘Smell Like Teen Spirit’ by, … huh … i forget now … who did that little ditty? ;] … Sir Michael Gurry also dropped in following some Boston-area recording project he was embroiled with earlier in the afternoon … + i believe we all got to jam it up a bit with the artist behind ‘The Frog’ … the ceramic piece mentioned earlier in this extensive blogCast ;] … we went very bluesy for some of these, fulfilling my wish to have a mid-openMike alL out ‘ALL Out Blues Jam’, if you know what i mean …
as far as next time … there will definitely be a ‘next time’ … i just have so much planned that a closing celebration going down today would be too much for my little imbalanced life to handle … so … at some future point in the history of The ALL Gallery we will once again establish an open mike thang, this time, perhaps, a little less ‘Impromptu’ ;]
here are some photos from the event … enjoy! … and many thanks to all who participated or stopped in … there were many couples + families that kept it fun for everyone …
so … Marco was back in town for the holidays this last week … last thursday in the AM to sometime today in the afternoon … a quick trip to visit parents + relatives for Christmas before traveling overseas to celebrate the New Year …
lots of funny stories to tell … i would say ‘needless to say’ here, but, uhm, frankly i find this 3-word introductory phraseology to be needless in so many ways … strange aside, i know … but … i will try to stick to the coffee-related foibles here ;] …
firstly … Squawk! … that’s right, that’s what i said … Squawk! … Deb + Marco + i made a nice night of last Thursday, got together over at Deb’s place for a few rounds of practice, mosied on over to Redbones for a little late-nite dinner + quick round of drinkage, + then off into the nite we brought 2 guitars + a mini-kit to the Squawk Coffeehouse at the Epworth Center in Harvard Square to join the talented poets, musicians, pianists + performers in a few rounds of open mike celebration of the Winter Solstice … great time … fantastic people down there offering up all sorts of performative food-for-thought … Billy Barnum, Lee Kidd, Jessa, Mick Cusimano, Ben on jumpin’ piano improv supreme + several others whose names i am sure i will come to know over time + other visitations to Squawk { for instance, a burlesque poetess … the clever innuendoed moniker completely slipping the mind right now … poetry provocatively placed on hip, leg, breast + thigh … i need to go back + check my notes to include her + her poetic friend in these bloggish entries … i’ll find out more } …
so, yes yes, indeed … although the coffee floweth over at Squawk in generous portions at that, i opted for a few round of tea in one of our Beware the Haberdash coffee mugs … a magical mug that makes any hot beverage concoction taste o’ so delicious { i highly recommend dropping a few bucks to get a mug today ;] } … Deb gave me a bit o’ sh!t, asking why she didn’t have one of the fine Haberdash mugs { after all, she did endure the all the half-band-attended practice sessions + the Haberdash Twilight Wonderbar last year @ The Midway in JP …
… } … so, flash-forward to this year … at Squawk … Deb + Marco + i get the pleasure of performing ‘Leonard Nimoy’ and ‘Starin’ at the Sun’ at the Winter Solstice celebration installment at Squawk … i feel we did well thanks to the amazingly receptive + nurturing crowd + also in part due to the magically fantastic karma brought on by Deb + Chris’ friend Michael { also in from Seattle to celebrate the holidays } who joins the Squawk procession early on in the evening for some ragtime group dancing ala The Peanuts as Ben hammers away on the grand piana tucked away beneath the balconies of The Epworth … it’s always fun to get to perform any of the Haberdash ‘Sewingbox’ material w/ Deb + Marco … thanks to our quick pre-practice before the show, we seem to pull off the short set w/ little imperfections … a great way to lyricall bring the sun into the Winter Solstice themed Squawkings of the evening … i’m sure i’ll blog a bit more on my LiveJournal account down the road a bit …
i didn’t make note of the tea from this evening @ Squawk … but i do know from previous Squawkings that i want to pick up some ‘Throat Coat’ from The Shaws per Deb’s recommendation … she generously introduced me to this fine, fine tea … a bit of honey to help w/ the coatings, yes? … + i thoroughly enjoyed the exposure to the new tea variety … more to come on that too, i’m sure …
well, not to make this like the longest blog entry in the world or anything … but … we ended our sojourns of Haberdashery out here on the East Coast w/ a trip out to the Cambridge Commons for a nice meal of food { nice little selection of appetizers … chicken nachos, satanic wings [ still on the bone, yes? ] + a middle eastern plate [ squeaky clean, squeaky clean ] } + beer + then made our way out + around Harvard Square for a brisk walk in the refreshing wintercrisp air … a little stop in @ Newbury Comics to check on the safety or sale of ‘Sewingbox’ { unfortunately still sitting in the line-up right in front of Beyonce } … + then our final destination for the evening, Cafe Algiers { aka ‘The Terrorist Cafe’ … this is what we called it when we frequented it years ago, growing up in Watertown + taking little trips into the square throughout our highschool careers … all pre-9.11 of course … the notion of terrorism was one that didn’t hit as close to home as in recent years, but still existed as a somewhat scary concept ‘out there’ in the world back in the late 80s [ you do the math ] } …
so, we took a couple of menus { bright green + patternisticly adorned } upstairs to the circular cupola, grabbed a small cabaret-style table w/ a view { you can see downstairs to the front door if you sit in the right spot … you can spy all the comings + goings, although this evening was prettymuch universally slow from a cafe + restaurant perspective } … Marco got a pot of the Arabic coffee + i got a cappucino … Algiers does a fantastic job w/ their coffess + is perhaps one fo the veryfirst experiences i ever had in a ‘cafe’ … Watertown was primarliy a 2-Dunkin’ town, if you know what i mean ;] … many people picking up a ‘Big One’ on the way to their 9-to-5 existence in the workforce … a little reward for their own penny-anti contributions to the greater economy of the 70s, 80s + beyond … Cafe Algiers, + Harvard Square of course, was a great destination for an evening or weekend … a fantastic spot to peoplewatch, discuss band concepts + songs { at the time, Marco + i were in ‘The Happy Deathmen’ w/ Tom Coolberth + Rob Hallsworth … a pre-HDM version of the group also included Jim McIsaac on drums, actually that more complete line-up might have been the true crowd we hung with at Cafe Algiers, sometimes hitting up the Pizzeria Regina before gettin’ all caffeinated @ Algiers }, talk about class or teachers or current events in the world … so … lots of memories w/ Cafe Algiers + i have to say, i have to add right here, they definitely do their coffee right … my cappuccino had some serious fluffy foam overflowing … delicious … + Marco’s Arabic Coffee was viscous, black + perfect from what i could see … i used to indulge in a nice pot myself, but i was actually happy i had pussied out + ordered the cappuccino instead … i would’ve been up all night as the Arabic Coffee is superstrong + actually laiden w/ a muddy residue of coffee grinds … rumored to be utilized for fortune telling in certain circles …
so, i think the quick trip to Algiers helped to complete the visit back home here in the Boston area for Marco … + now, off to France … Happy New Year! :::…