Another great night making music at CU Corner.... stop me if you've heard this one before. It was Thursday Jam Night and Taow (the woman who owns the bar) asked me if I would come and play some. Yes, of course. They seem to be able to offer live music again, after a long period of problems with the neighbors and the cops and who knows what else. I led a set that included these tunes: 'Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do', Hey Good Lookin' (both by Hank Williams), Bhang Lassi and Same Same by me. Honky Tonk Woman (Stones) Proud Mary (Credence) and a couple more that escape me now. Later in the evening I led some more, and in both cases, I managed to get the crowd involved, singing and playing percussion, having fun. Afterward, Taow pulled me aside and asked if I would do some paid gigs there. She likes what I bring. And now that Jeff is temporarily out of the picture due to a hellacious motorcycle wreck in October, it's Taow's call, and yes of course, I'll help her out and do what I do.
A big part of the charm of that place is the cast of characters, both regulars and new faces. There was this big round faced 60 year old Aussie guy who sang and played easy listening music, which was perfect for the vibe at the time. His name is Craig (sound like Croyg when he says it) and we got to talking afterwards. Told me he was taught by Maoris from New Zealand which accounts for his 'polynesian style' and then shared about how his 51 year old wife died of liver cancer 14 months ago and he's been struggling to hang on ever since. A very sad story, they were on vacation in Thailand and she came back from swimming and then threw up and collapsed on the beach. Went to hospital in Bangkok and they thought it was some tropical disease, back to Australia and they thought the same. then found a mass in her liver and that was all she wrote. Pretty emotional conversation, musician to musician and I really felt for him. He's got 5 sons, and I mentioned that I'm one of \5 sons. When I described my place in \the family constellation..'The other 4 are all mortgage paying, solid citizens and then there's me'. He said 'You're the square peg' Yup.
The big news of the week (I think) is that I got over the hump and bought a camera. I had been holding out, but was getting sick of my stance. 'I don't need a camera... I use words, people have been traveling forever without a camera blah blah blah'. I'm sure it's a question of techno-phobia and unwillingness to tackle challenges.. Enter David Woodier, 38 years old, mixed race dude (Chinese/European) who grew up in Hong Kong. He's a very interesting cat, has an upper class British accent, and the stuff he talks about is high-level and thought provoking. Likes gadgets, is very good with technology and in fact makes his living in Australia by teaching technology in the mining industry. I met him my first night in town at a Christmas Eve party and I ended up inviting over to CU to meet some of the Rogue's Gallery. They took to him as well.
Turns out he is very well versed in the human potential movement a la Tony Robbins, and when I mentioned that he seemed like a cross between James Bond and Tony Robbins, he loved the image. And it so happens that he worked for a group that booked Tony Robbins events around Europe and attended them all. So he's part of that 'can do' mentality. We ended up meeting for lunch the next day and then went to the big technology store to look at cameras. First we sat down and had a chat to try and determine what it was that I needed and that done, we went and bought a cool Olympus camera for about $140, and now I'm learning how to use it. I needed a combination tech wizard and psychologist to help me get over my reticence, and yup, he's the guy. Pretty soon my blog will be full of pictures (I hope) and I'll be posting stuff on facebook as well. I know it's not a big deal to all of you who do this stuff as a matter of course, but to me, the act of breaking through a block is a big deal. Who knows what other big deals lie ahead? We shall see.
