The 4th of July Tradition

The Osceola-Mills 4^th of July parade has been a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember.  Every 4^th my mother would meet up with her sister and brother and their families and cart us kids to the parade.  We’ve pretty much sat in the same general area for all of these years, which I guess you could say has been at least 25 or more, as I can remember being at least 5 or under and attending the parade and carnival.  Both the carnival and parade seem to get smaller and smaller every year.

Curb-side at the 2012 Osceola Parade

The parade usually starts at 11 in the morning, but we are usually late.  We were late this year also, but my mother informed us we only missed 19 fire trucks and one band.  Geez.  We sat at a new location this year, a friend of my mother’s front lawn where there was a wall and a set of stairs going down to the road; a somewhat different layout for picking up thrown candy.  Celie enjoyed the fire trucks, but really paid little attention to the parade.  She pretty much ran around and had to be followed or restrained the whole time.  Madness.  She’s at that in between age, where she’s not a little baby but not a kid big enough to know things are dangerous or to listen to you.  I imagine this stage will go on for the next 16 to 25 years. 

The parade ended with little thrill.  The Jaffa Shriner’s weren’t even there this year?  It seemed so much more exciting when I was a kid, obviously.  But what is happening?  Everything is shrinking.  The carnival is even smaller with fewer attractions.  We made our way down to it after the parade though and had our ritual walk through of the small event.  After having forgotten at least 4 items and returned at least 4 times to the car for them, we also forgot my wallet that had at least 10 bucks in it.  My husband had one dollar on him.  We are with it!  (sarcasm)  Joey gave the dollar to me and I got 5 rings for a chance to win him a pocket knife.  I failed.  My sister, Kate, then paid my way and we played each the game of games, fish pong.

Fish Pong, or the Fish Game, I don’t know what it’s called actually, has always been one of my favorite games at carnivals.  Your prize is alive!  And it will last however long you keep it alive!  My cousin Brian won a fish at the Osceola carnival and it lived for 12 years!  Goldy is a legend in our family! We wanted a legend for Celie, so Aunt Kate decided to give it a try.  After several attempts at the fish game, we both failed.  You would think that all of the beer pong experience would have helped?   I guess red solo cups are a little wider at the top and easier to hit than those little fish bowls?  Plus they are closer together.  This carny was using dirty tricks; there was about a mile between each colored bowl.  Yeah, that was it.

Celie is at that odd age where I’m not sure she would stay in a kiddie ride so I am a little scared for her life, but one cool thing about the carnival was that she got to go on her first ride with her cousin Sofia (up until recently, referred to by Celie as “Ya Ya”).  They road the little cars together; this was one of my favorite rides when I was little.  I liked the motorcycles.  They used to have lights and buttons you could push for horns and things.  They used to have ramps they went up on.  Of course these are probably the same rides that I road when I was a child in the early 80’s.  Pretty soon the fake steering wheels will rust and you won’t even be able to turn them and pretend you’re steering!

Sofia (left) and Celie (right) riding a padiddle buggy.

After our small visit at the carnival we stopped at my husband’s uncle’s house on the way to the car.  They live locally, so we often see them at the parade and after.  It was a nice visit.  They gave us two little tricycles for Celie to take home!  Not to mention it was well into the 90’s, it was a scorcher, and their generous offerings of iced tea were most refreshing and appreciated!

We then drove back to my aunt’s house for the traditional post parade and carnival cook out.  We hung out on the patio and drank some Coors Light while the girls splashed in a kiddy pool.  Good times.  We consumed charred mammal flesh and feasted on side salads.  We didn’t even blow anything up, but it was fun.  We had one old sparkler that my cousin stuck in the fire and we watched.  Not very exciting for the 4th of July, but, it was a beautiful thing, traditionally speaking. Isn't that how it goes with traditions?  It doesn't matter how it goes, the comfort lies in repeating the pattern.


Traditionally Yours,
Missie Sue

First Friendships & Rett Syndrome

Today we went back to the library with our friends Julie and Lucy.  We attended two semesters of Kindermusik with them on Friday mornings and after that was over for the summer, we had decided to just go back to the library’s Mother Goose on the Loose class on Tuesdays until Kindermusik starts back up in the fall.  It has been maybe a month and we either haven’t been able to get our schedules together or something has come up, so we had not met up for an outing in awhile.  We finally did it today! 

Julie is actually my distant cousin somehow through my paternal grandmother.  We were in the same grade in school and we grew up in the same small town.  After we graduated together, she moved away for college, but after getting married and having a baby she moved back to our hometown.  It was really great to reconnect with her last year after we both had baby girls.  We started getting the girls together last year for the library and a few occasional play dates that we actually managed to work out (we are both incredible home bodies).

When we started visiting Julie and Lucy it was known that Lucy was slower than average and was not yet crawling or lifting herself up.  Lucy is approximately 4 months older than Celie.  Lucy was diagnosed with hypotonia.  She continued to miss milestones and I witnessed Julie’s story via our conversations during car rides to the library and Kindermusik.  Julie seemed to know in her gut that something was more severely wrong with Lucy than the hypotonia.  She kept pushing for doctors to test her for syndromes but it was hard to diagnose her.  Poor little Lucy (and Julie) went through test after test until in February of this year she was finally diagnosed with Rett Syndrome. 

Rett Syndrome is a condition in which a certain chromosome is either mutated or missing.  The condition mostly occurs in girls, but there are a few cases of boys with Rett Syndrome, although it is less common.  In the boys the chromosome is doubled instead of being mutated or missing, but they still display most of the same symptoms.  While hypotonia is not always found in Rett Syndrome, it is common.  That is just another thing stacked against little Lucy.  Basically Lucy has to work a hundred times harder than other kids to do mostly everything.  She can’t control her body normally and because of the hypotonia she lacks the muscle tone to support herself.  Lucy is 2 today and still is not walking or even crawling, but she is scooting like a boss!  We are still very hopeful that Lucy will learn how to walk some day.  It won’t be soon, but some day by the love of her mother I believe that girl will walk!  I don’t want this blog post to be completely about the horrible condition, because I am far from an expert on the subject and it would warrant an entire blog itself.  In this post I want to give some background on our friendship(s) and reflect on our wonderful day together, but I would like to point you toward Julie’s blog, Understanding Lu, that she started as a way of coping with her experiences.  For more information please check out The International Rett Syndrome Foundation, created to help educate and connect people. 

Julie had recently got these GirlPower2Cure cards done up through a website about Rett education that she uses to present to friends, or to present to people that seem curious about Lucy’s condition.  The cards are to be an easier way to deal with “gawkers” or people that don’t seem to understand why Lucy isn’t doing the things a girl of her age would normally be able to do.  Until today Julie had not needed to present a Gawker with a card; she had only given the cards to people she knew and associated with.  There was a woman in the library that we had seen most every week when we were taking the girls there months ago but had not seen in quite a few months.  Today she seemed very interested in Lucy not walking and being carried everywhere by Julie for the Mother Goose on the Loose activities.  Julie did a big thing and presented the lady with one of her cards saying, “You seemed like you were curious about Lucy.”  She briefly explained the card and then walked off with Lu to check out their library books. 

The woman, who was in the room with me, then, commented on the situation, saying she didn’t know about Lucy; it seemed as though she felt bad.  She must have then realized that she had been The Gawker.  I guess this is why they teach children not to stare.  It’s rude.  I can’t imagine what it must be like to be Julie and have people stare at your child because they are different.  But when you stare it means something.  It means that you don’t understand something.  And I suppose this is also exactly what the cards are intended for. 

It was a small triumph in the physical, psychological, and spiritual battle that Julie is fighting against Rett syndrome.  She told me as we walked back to her vehicle from the library that it was the first time she presented one of the cards like that to someone that was just obviously staring.  I greatly enjoy our times together.  I listen intently to her "war stories" which force me to reflect on my own situations, that seem more like small skirmishes in the shadow of the titanic drain that Rett Syndrome is in their life.  Our friendship reminds me daily that I am incredibly lucky to have what I have.  Lucy's innocence and struggles inspire me to try harder.  Julie also inspires me immensely.  In the oddest of ways, it is as though she has been rehearsing for this role her entire life, having worked with the special needs students in high school in her spare time and gone to college for a similar field.  She is obviously torn up by the situation but gracefully pushes forward for Lucy, trying to make sure she is doing all that she can to make sure Lucy has the best that she possibly can.  

I can’t imagine what I would do in her shoes.  I know that you can’t say what you would do or be like until something happens or is, but I know that there is no way I would be able to hold it together like Julie does.  She does her job well, and that is Mother.  She reads to Lucy constantly and stimulates her mind with loving conversation.  She made her all home made foods when she was a baby.  She cloth diapered for over a year.  She works with Lucy constantly on her therapies and with her communication.  She carts and carries Lucy to the numerous therapies she has every week.  She went to the 7th Rett Syndrome Conference in New Orleans with her husband to learn more about the condition.  She does what is right for Lucy despite the financial burden that it produces, even though they are by no means financially frivolous or super loaded.  She is frugal, she is persistent.  She is a super mother. 

Riding Buddies, Celie (left) and Lucy (right)

Julie always made a point of doing the right things even throughout her pregnancy, and yet this very “wrong” thing happened.  But Lucy isn’t wrong, she is wonderful the way she is, through the Rett Syndrome.  Her condition has rendered her incapable of speech and normal control of her body but she is cognitively not very different than most girls her age.  She is what she is. She is a loveable little girl with a contagious smile that warms hearts.  She is my daughter’s best friend.  She is going to teach my daughter some of the hardest lessons in life, lessons that I could never teach her.  Celie is going to grow up alongside Lucy and see her struggles first hand.  She’ll play with her, stand by her side, and hopefully one day walk with her too.  I hope that it teaches her to be grateful for what she has and to not take any of her small steps or accomplishments for granted.  

Clutch @ The Chameleon Club: April 11, 2012

CLUTCH

(w/ Kingsnake, MonstrO and Kyng)

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Chameleon Club

223 N. Water Street

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

The Chameleon Club, Lancaster, PA

I saw Clutch for the first time this year.  It was on a Wednesday; an overnighter outtatowner.  Clutch is a band notorious for playing small shows at clubs and once again, I was to grow even fonder of the intimate atmosphere of the small venue.  While they had a strict no camera rule, they put on one hell of a show and sounded amazing.  They catered to the masses, and the masses were a motley crew of variety you wouldn’t believe.  The show was intimate, heated, and rockin’; the jovial moshpit almost sucked me in like a twister.

I came with my ex-boyfriend J and my sister’s ex-boyfriend H.  I had joked that it was “The Night of the Exes” at one point.  I made the drive to Lancaster down with J, and we met up with H when we got there.  We are all good friends.  H brought a friend, who actually is the one we have to thank for this ordeal, as he was the one who contacted H about the show, who then contacted me, who then told J he was going with me.  Yadda yadda.  Background.  Understand?  It was me and three guys in company at the show.

"Take only what you need to survive!"

It was a chilly day and we had arrived early.  We killed some time talking in the parking garage, located just across the street from The Chameleon Club.  We had checked out the line outside, and it wasn’t going anywhere until the doors opened, so why bother.  After the doors opened we waited like cattle in a spiral through the bottom level of the place until passing through doors finally that led to another line where we waited to get frisked and searched and that whole deal.  They weren’t even letting people take medications in.  This club was serious.  Meanwhile, we were being told repeatedly by loud employees that there is a no video/camera policy that came from Clutch themselves.  If we were seen even holding our phone up, we were going to be kicked out.  Geez.  Okay, okay.  I came to watch the show anyway, not record it.  It still made you nervous to even have your phone out texting or whatnot. 

We finally make it through the lines and searches and climb the stairs into the club.  The main room of the place has a bar, an open floor, and a stage.  All you need.  In the far back beyond the bar there is an area where merchandise was being sold.  The bar sits in the back area of the room.  There is an open floor area maybe 30 or 40 feet squared; not incredibly large.  The place is small and really nice.  There is another level above with another bar, bathrooms and a balcony that extends out alongside the stage area.  The underage kids were all crammed into the far end of the balcony on this level.  Poor bastards, their little noses bleeding down on us, had the best view in the place. 

The crowd was made of a great mix of people.  A trip to the women’s room revealed a lot about the diversity of the fans.  I had met a woman that had seen them 20 plus times!!  And I was a Clutch Virgin!  This was a special night.  People of all ages; I talked to a woman about Stevie Nicks that had seen her back in 1970-something.  I talked to a younger girl that was going to see Taylor Swift later that month.  Someone in the restroom also reported that one of the opening acts was supposedly a Pantera side project?  Whether this was true or not remains to be known.  I also found out that the bathrooms downstairs are way better than the ones on the level above.  It’s amazing the things one can find out by taking a pee. 

There were three acts on before Clutch took the stage.  The first one I remember distinctly was called Kingsnake.  I know this because it took me awhile to “track” their name down.  They sounded almost like a Clutch cover band, very bluesy and obviously Clutch influenced, and even the lead singer sported a good beard and a powerful voice.  I marveled at how much he got into his performance, eyes closed at most times, not looking at the crowd at all, but rather seemingly in his own place.  He mentioned the name of the band at least three times, neither time did we catch what he was saying.  “Kickstand!” someone declared.  I kept saying, “No, no, it has a “pink” sound…Pink something?”  We were all kinds of confused.  The lead singer from Kingsnake even came through the crowd and I shook his hand and spoke to him as he came through.  I asked hi the name of their band and it was one of those can’t possibly ask them to repeat it again, just smile and nod, things.  He repeated it 3 times and I couldn’t catch it.  Too loud.  Was that a pink sound?  Still confused.  The three guys I had gone with were jumping in and out of the modest mosh pit that had started forming in the center of the room.  The atmosphere was very positive and everyone seemed to be looking out and enjoying themselves. 

The second act was called MonstrO. “The voice doesn’t match the beard,” I remember saying.  The bassist singer had a George Harrison-esque face bush kicking.  The guitarist had a long head of dreadlocks that he was throwing about throughout the show.  Again, his voice didn’t quite fit the looks, but overall it was a good sound.  Their voices were on the higher side of rock or metal, I suppose.  The third band was called Kyng and they were decent.  I honestly don’t remember too much other than some really decent guitar from these guys, being I was getting a good buzz on at this point and getting impatient to see Clutch.   I did end up buying their CD for ten bucks before we left.

So far the atmosphere had been jovial and the humble pit had been pleasant.  My ex-boyfriend kept checking back with me.  In responding physiologically to the music, his body movements eventually became too aggressive to be in our area, so he moved into the pit.  I took ground next to a girl and her boyfriend, in front of the “Wall of Timid Men” as I called them.  The pit was on the right of me.  I spent a good amount of the time pushing guys back and standing my ground.  Everything was pretty low key throughout the opening acts.  J and I were standing there as Clutch first took the stage, and it was ironic, almost immediately a man was down directly in front of us.  A couple of people, as I said they were jovial, rushed to help him up and he began screaming in pain.  We just backed up and let them get him up and out.  Apparently his leg was buggered up.  What are the odds?  Poor guy.   During the very first seconds of Clutch too! 

Clutch was a very intense show.  Neil Fallon had a maddened/deranged almost Charles Manson-like stare most of the performance.  He seemed very into the show while somewhat detached at the same time.  Who knows, maybe he was high.  You could tell that they were aged definitely at this point, but man could they still rock.  The drummer was cracking us up, he was so aggressive and into it and casually middle aged looking about it.  I do remember their version of Space Grass was a little quicker than normal, but the audience still got majorly into the song.  The pit got incredibly excited during this one, and I was not able to keep from jumping and stomping and finger point sing shouting myself, in front of the Wall of Timid Men. 

The Wall of Timid Men, as I was calling them, was a line of taller and/or bigger sized gentlemen that were choosing not to participate in the moshpit and rather annoyed by it.  They had positioned themselves behind a body of bopping girls.  They probably had the smartest position in the club.  They had a good view, and they got to hold us up when we were pushed back into them by the moshing men.  The WOTM was actually very helpful when this would happen and I am very thankful they were there to help me from getting knocked backwards and falling over a couple of times.

SETLIST

1. Immortal

2. Child of the City

Blast Tyrant on vinyl!

Moapmakers

4. Burning Beard

5.  House That Peterbilt

6.  Mob Goes Wild

7.  Profits of Doom

8.  Spleen.Merchant

9.  Escape From the Prison Planet

10. Spacegrass

11.  Crucial

12.  Animal Farm

13.  Texan Book of the Dead

14.  King of Arizona

15.  Electric Worry/One Eyed Dollar

Encore

16.  I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth

17.  The Elephant Riders

They played a good amount of what you would want to hear, although like any band with a decent catalog, you can only fit so much into a show.  It was interesting to hear the current songs they have been working on recently.  It’s so hard to try to remember the setlist of a show and drink and bop at the same time.  I made a list in my Moleskin after the concert, but could only remember what I could remember.  For an excellent review of the show, check out the blog Root Down in the Shadow's review of the concert. 

Overall, this was one of the best rock concerts I have been to.  Mainly, I suppose, because I really love the groovy sounds of Clutch and it was so great to experience that in such an intimate setting so close to the band.  I scored a copy of Blast Tyrant's re-release on vinyl.   I love vinyl and I love Clutch!  It’s great to dance around to and get pumped up.  I have been in a big Clutch kick this year, and I listened to them with my daughter a ton.  We would rock out to Tight Light That, but her favorite song is Animal Farm.  When they played it, I got so excited and the first thing I thought of was my baby girl!!  Seems an odd band for a toddler, but the girl knows how to rock, and has excellent taste in music, I might add.

Me To You,

Missie Sue

NaBloPoMo July 2012!!

At the beginning of the month I always think it is a good time to start something, mostly I suppose because there is always that feeling of “Oh, this month I’ll get my shit together!”.  It’s all a mirage, in the end, but it serves as a way for you to feel like Wonder Woman maybe for at least a few minutes.  Something has to motivate you in life.  A new beginning is always appealing.  “What the hell do I do now?” I say once I get going.  

I guess July's NaBloPoMo theme is Kids.  I don't have to stick to BlogHer's prompts or suggestions, but I have been neglecting my documentation as a mother.  It would be useful to focus a lot this month on Celie, especially being that she turns 2 next month!  Documentation is one of the reasons I do this stuff; again, I'm overly nostalgic.  I imagine someday I will love to look back at my blog, no matter how trivial the matter I am writing of.  

I am a mess.  I love to write and I practice whenever I can.  So I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo again.  July has just started and I think that it would be a good way to help me tend to my neglected blog.  Let’s face it, also, my blog is like my writing portfolio of sorts, and it’s also sort of my schooling.  How are we to become better writers if we don’t do the thing that we are attempting to do?  You need to write to get better at writing, so it doesn’t matter what it is---I’m going to write.  30 blogs in 30 days.  Maybe I’ll keep going then?  Maybe THIS time it will inspire me to CONTINUE.  Continuing has always been the problem.  First it’s gaining the momentum, then it’s continuing with forward movement.  Let’s see what ideas I can touch on this month, what alleys I can explore, what topics I can put my pointless twist on.  Let’s see what happens if I start writing again.  Let's see if getting back on my "therapy" wagon helps other aspects of my life.  Let's get our vent on.  Write on.  On, I go… 

Hoots & Hellmouth: February 4th, 2012

Hoots & Hellmouth

February 4^th, 2012

Elk Creek Cafe +Aleworks

Millheim, Pennsylvania

I only wished I had written of this experience while it was fresher in my memory.  This was the first concert of this year that I went to, taking place on February 4.  It was one of the best and most intimate concert experiences I have ever had.  I know that H&HM aren’t exactly a huge act that would draw an insanely large crowd, but I do believe that is why it was one of the best concert experiences of my life and I have come to really appreciate the small, intimate venue for concerts.    

For starters, the Elk Creek Café +Aleworks is a restaurant and ale house.  It is maybe 75 feet by 200 feet, and that is going by my horridly poor guestimated calculations.  It is essentially a restaurant, with a chimney in its center and a stage on the wall opposite the bar.  It is a very nicely lit and maintained establishment.  There was a logo for the cafe on the wall behind the stage.  The Alehouse is what it sounds like; it is a small microbrewery and restaurant.  We had the privilege of ordering and enjoying a wonderful meal prior to watching the show!

We ordered our meals and pitchers of ale and started the evening off.  I believe I had the bacon cheeseburger, if I remember correctly.  I think that a burger is a good menu item to try out at a new place to see how the food will be.  Though somewhat pricey for what we got, the food was definitely enjoyable.  The people I was with ordered a dozen wings, which they let me sample a few of as well as pitchers of ale for the evening.  The wings were some of the biggest I have ever eaten.  What I do remember the best is the delicious sauce that came with my burger.  I don’t know what it was for exactly, so I smeared some on my burger and proceeded to dip folded fries into it.  After a good full belly I started on some ale, which was a brown ale something or other that was on special in pitchers for the night.  The bar is also a microbrewery and they make all of their own beer.  The beer was quite delicious and I enjoyed a few foaming glasses throughout the evening.  On with the show!

The acoustics in this place were amazing.  The sound booth and man were right in front of our table so I watched intently as he and the guys messed with it earlier in the evening to get it just so.  I should mention that the place was so small, the band was hanging out the entire night at a table in the far corner to the right of the stage, which was probably about 20 to 30 feet away.  Pretty amazing.  Just wolfing down my burger checking out some musicians I find quite amazing.  A definite moment for the books (or blog)!  I wasn’t sure what to expect when the show started.  I had two of H&HM’s albums at the time and rather enjoyed both of them, though I had never seen them live.  I did not have their new album, Salt, which was only released a month or two prior to the concert.  Let the show begin.

So the room quiets down a bit and the lighting changes and they finally start into their very first song, which is Roll, Brandywine, Roll, followed by The Good I Know You Know.  These were the two songs that my best good pal I had accompanied to the show had wished to hear above all!  Score!   I think I had my phone up and was recording throughout this.  Before they got into the next song after their opening, Rob (mandolin/etc) made a joke about making history here tonight and being sure to upload to your Facebook, commenting on the video taking that was going on around them in a positive way.  How delightful!  These are the only songs I remember a specific order for.  I do remember hearing Forks and Knives, and some others off of their first albums, but then the latter part of the performance seemed devoted mostly to their new album Salt.  I swear it almost seems as if they played the album in its entirety, and who knows, they may have.  I had heard their concerts described as “revivals” and as the night progressed I was soon to learn just what this meant. 

Dancers swarmed the stage, stomping in a line right in front of the boys.  During the intro of The Ache, I remember the sound of the bass completely filling the room, thick like smoke, and when he dragged the bow across those strings I swear that I felt it in the gray matter of my brain!  As the band moved through their sets, it was more and more evident what was meant by revival.  Slowly more and more people would migrate to the front of the room to stand before them and stomp, clap, dance, sway, or any combination of the aforementioned movements.  People were getting right up in front of them and taking pictures and video with their phones and cameras.  Meanwhile, they performed perfectly, like they were a framed piece of art or a living tourist attraction. 

During the break, I perused the items they had for sale on the back table they were sitting at earlier.  Among the items was the book Seeds of Discent by Nic Esposito, concerning self sustainable agriculture, as they were there having played the PASA convention that they frequent every year.  I was told the owner of the Aleworks was the man who started PASA.  I chitchatted with the guy they had selling the stuff for awhile, discussing the book and other things.  He gave me a business card with the books name, etc, on it so I could check into it later on.  Eventually the band came around and my friends and I were able to speak one on one with them.  I ended up purchasing two vinyl records while there, The Holy Open Secret and a copy of their new album Salt.  I was able to take the copy of THOS around to each of the band members and have them sign it.  They doodled on it, as the drummer, who I started with, told me they did if people didn’t mind.  Mind?  Yeah, I will “mind” big time if you doodle on a copy of your vinyl sleeve in front of me with a Sharpie while we chit chat like we’re pals.  This was epic. 

I remember high-fiving Mike Reilly, the drummer, who was very chill and layed back.  Rob Berliner (mandonlin/piano/banjo/organ/vocals) was actually the one who checked me out with his super technical phone swiping “device”,which we had problems with.  He said I would have to wait and apologized.  “Ohh no!!” Whatever will I do.  I guess just stand here and talk to you some more.  I believe he told me I had a nice name and we discussed where I hailed from.  He was a nice guy.  Todd “Bud” Erk, the bassist, was one of the shyest guys I have met and it was incredibly awkward getting his signature on the album.  He sort of stayed on the stage and wasn’t talking to folks as much, but I got him! 

This left only Mr. Sean Hoots. His glasses, beard, hair combo were drawing me in.  He had a presence that I had been marveling over the entire evening, that I couldn’t even explain if I tried.  He was great in person.  Up close and personal, his style of playing was a glorious thing to witness!  The way he passionately attacked the strings of the guitar and channeled Jesus on stage!  I had to tell him!  “…you have one of the most powerful stage presences that I have ever seen…”, there I was, kissing ass to underrated musicians.  “Aw, shucks.  Thank you.” he said to me.  I got Sean Hoots to say shucks?  What an honestly awesome guy!  Seriously. 

Their second set was even more stomptastic than the first.  Feet were flying and people were bouncing; you couldn’t NOT move to this music!  The sheer power that I felt in the room during each rise and fall during Why Would You Not Want To Go There? changed my life!  The song has a maddening pace combined with swaying lyrics, and an excellent use of absences.  Being such a closeup observer of the strumming pattern of Sean Hoots and his channeling performance was moving to say the absolute least and I ended up being obsessed with this song for a few months afterward. The wall of energy in front of them at that moment was phenomenal.  Everybody in the entire room was feeling and contributing to that song.  "That just comes right back to you!" Sean had told me, when I was commenting on the "wall of energy" to him.  It was a revival, alright.

Every time that I listen to Being Borned Again, the last song on the Salt album, I am transported back to that night and I can remember the entire crowd/room being instructed toward stomping and clapping in perfect time and unison to the beat of the tune in that dimly and perfectly lit room.  Blue tinted lights illuminated the band, and I heard one of the best songs for the first time in my life and immediately fell in love with it.  Muscle memory will always connect that song for me to that stomp clap pattern and that room where the whole crowd was revealed to be one energetic organism moving together. 

I had one of the most intimate musical experiences of my life seeing Hoots and Hellmouth at the Elk Creek Cafe and Aleworks and I look very forward to seeing them perform again! 

A Virginia Weekend

So I just returned from a trip to Virginia yesterday.  It was a 6 hour ride down, 5 hour ride back.  It was one of the best mini vacations of my life.  I was sent right back to my childhood when I basically spent maybe ten to twelve straight summers of my life at my Uncle Tom’s pool.

We stayed with my cousin, who is Uncle Tom and Aunt Grace’s daughter.  They were huge figures in my early childhood.  They lived only 15 minutes from us and were at all of our birthday parties and holiday celebrations.  My uncle passed away several years ago, and since then my aunt and cousin her family have all moved to Virginia.  We miss them a lot and it is always good to have visits. 

The pool I swam in was an 8 foot inground pool with a diving board.  It had no liner; the bottom was made out of concrete.  A single line of blue square tiles extended around the entire edge.  It was glorious!

It’s funny how you can be away from things for so long and then suddenly when you are thrown into the middle of it everything just comes back to you.  I haven’t SWAM swam in a pool in the longest time.  I’ve lately been in rivers and such, not even THAT much, but haven’t been in the chlorine for awhile.  I grew up there!  My mother, while taking us to the Black Moshannon State Forest’s “beach” along the creek all the summers of our lives, also took us before that so much more to her brother and sister-in-law’s pool.  This is where I learned to swim.  This pool was 10 feet at the deep end, I believe.  It had a sliding board that was at the 5 feet mark, if I remember correctly.  It was the best place on Earth for a kid.  Me and my cousins celebrated the simplistic joys of life in both ends of that glorious pool!  The family all hung out pool side as we swam.  We had these colored rings that you sunk to the bottom and dove to find.  We would launch each other across the water.  We would practice “The Lift” from Dirty Dancing!!  We were even known to play a spirited game of Marco Polo at times.  We would dive and play and splash until our eyes were fogged over with a white haze from opening them in the chlorine!  It.was.awesome!!

We were probably down in Virginia for a total of 48 hours and I probably spent about 30 of them in the pool!  My face shows it.  I didn’t get burnt, but I look spanked and hopefully it will turn to a light tan and nothing else.  I have such a fair complexion that it’s almost impossible to have fun outside without getting some part of my head burnt, it seems.  They need SPF conditioner for your scalp!
 

My uncle’s pool and cousin’s pool were opposite each other in perspective to the house.  I mean, that the shallow end and deep end were at opposite sides compared to how the pool faced the house and were people sat and hung out.  I found myself getting confused by this at times. I would be in the deep end and I would go to put my feet down.  It was much fun.  I lapsed into childhood myself spending some incredibly joyful moments with my daughter in the pool!  She has proven to be a water lover just like her mother; she didn’t want to get out every time she was in there!

We had some really good food and enjoyed some drinks with the family!  People hung out in the hot tub.  My cousin and her family’s hospitality is astounding and their home is like a resort.  My mother and aunt’s got drunk in the hot tub thanks to some potent vodka drinks fixed by my cousin (whose birthday we were there to celebrate!).  I was about in stitches laughing that night and was up until 3 am helping my drunken mother.  She did apologize for leaving me by the side of the road that night when I was a kid, though.  It was a night to remember.  I thought that it couldn’t be topped until the following night when I went skinny dipping with her at 2am!  I think that the fact that I was not the one naked warrants a mention. :/  I did get some good diving practice in off the board while my mother coached and judged skyclad.  These are things you only tell your therapist, right??  If you don’t have one, I reckon you just blog about it! 

All in all, it was a meeting of the famn damily like any other and unlike any other!  It was epic.  It felt very good to get away.  It was great seeing the family.  It was great having some drinks and unwinding with them, getting to know them again and more, and enjoying a beautiful atmosphere together.  I swam my ass off through time this weekend!  “Good times!” as I taught Celie to say in the pool.  “Sfimmin’ fun!” she says!  I had almost forgotten how much I love sfimmin’ myself!  Floating in the pool water was like a joyful drift through a foreign world of weightlessness, suspended in memory.  

Me To You,
Missie Sue

Trayvon Martin: Candy in His Pockets

In a bag or in his pockets,

He carried the last treasure,

That he would possess.

The last booty.

The last success.

The last supper. 

Strolling or skipping away,

Was it night or day? 

Fear targeted his colored face.

The blackness of night was at prey.

Who was the victim?
Who was the criminal?

Who was the adult,

Versus the juvenile? 

In America we shoot first.

In America we don’t ask questions;

Later we dodge responsibility.

We dodge justice. 

We dodge peace of mind.

We dodge truth.

The 911 tapes reveal the most.

The man was on the phone,

As he chased down and encountered,

A 17 year old boy with candy in his pocket.

The gunman shot young Trayvon in the chest,

Killing him dead. 

No criminal charges against him.

If the authorities finally press him,

He will claim self defense,

But what kind of candy is loaded,

With bullets as deadly as his?

- March 19, 2012