So yesterday was much sitting and watching TV and wringing my hands and practically pretending to type on my keyboard, you know, the one that isn't hooked up to anything because all of my various computers are being held hostage in various random places and I'm left with a room full of nothing.

You know, except for all of the other crap I own. But to fill the time, I dyed my hair, so clearly not having a computer is good for my appearance, if not my mental health.

Then was the Interlochen Alumni Coffeehouse Recital Revue A-Go-Go, the one I almost missed because of my lack of ever writing down a single piece of information ever ever ever.

It was at John's house, and by house I mean enormous castle. No, that's Four Weddings, but it certainly was an enormous castle compared to every other New York residence I've ever seen, except perhaps for Vicki's, but she's rich so she has an excuse.

This place is big because it's also his work space, there's a recording studio in there, and there needs to be room for people and musicians and bands and things, not to mention a grand piano. And presumably jugglers and fire-eaters, if necessary. I'm trying to say that the place is big!

And there is the living side on top of that, which is plenty of room as well, a giant living room and everything. There were like fifty people there and everyone fit pretty comfortably.

So yeah, fifty people. Fifty strangers. Not my scene, to say the least. And I didn't know a goddamned person there but John and Cari, the sweetheart Alumni person.

When I was reading the list of people attending, I realized that the alumni were all from the '60s or the '90s, and the '80s were woefully under-represented. The '80s were basically me and John and someone else that I didn't know. But somehow this didn't translate in my head into "Big roomful of strangers." But you know what? I got there and...big roomful of strangers.

I sat in a chair and did my smiling mildly at the walls routine. A few kind people came and talked to me, but after "What was your year? What was your major? What do you do now?" there isn't an awful lot to say, though I did meet a nice girl from '91 who knows my pal Tony DiModica and promised to kick his ass for not coming, and I met the other girl from my year, Sue (Susan? No, I'm sure Sue. My appalling memory plays havoc at these events), who was really chatty, and therefor easy to talk to.

That makes it sound like she was a bigmouth, but that's not what I meant, it's just garrulous people make it easier for me, the Most Introverted Extrovert in All the Land. I wish I'd gotten her name properly, as she seems like the kind of person that it would be nice to know.

Anyway, the thing was supposed to start at 8p, but that was just the hanging around and talking part of the evening, and I would have gotten there later had I known, but the show finally started at 9p or so.

A coffeehouse, you see, is sort of like a cabaret, we used to have them at school and they were fun because they were much more casual performances than the concerts and things that was what we were doing for school, this was just for fun.

And man, everyone was good. Of course, it was an arts school, I don't know why I'm shocked that the performances were all so strong, but I never claimed to be that bright. There was a woodwind quintet (the horn and clarinet players were alumni), a poet, a couple of short story writers, a flute and piano duet, a violin and piano duet, two girls harmonizing on folk songs and a bellydancer! We had it all!

Everyone was terrific, but my four favourite performers were two singer-songwriters, a peculiar duo with a uke, and a marimba player who played a cd of his work, since there wasn't exactly a marimba hanging around. Besides the fact that the cd would have been impossible to replicate live.

In order, the first singer-songwriter was John. Now, John is really special, I have no idea why he is not a great big star, there is no reason why he isn't, except maybe that he doesn't want to be. He is astonishingly good-looking to start with, he was probably the prettiest boy in high school, but now that he is older and his hair is grey and he has a couple of planes in his face, he is sincerely beautiful.

Also, he's a brilliant composer, he has a voice full of longing, and his songs are all about love and loss. To put it mildly, when he performs, everyone falls in love with him, and I mean including the straight men and the gay women--he has pheromones to burn, baby.

He did three songs, the first of which really blew my mind, inspired by the WTC, but not about it directly, more about connecting with people because there might not be too much time left. I don't think I was the only one blinking back tears.

The second singer-songwriter was named Justin (I think! I hope I got that right), and he was the exact opposite from John, and I don't mean that he wasn't plenty good-looking, because he certainly was, but because the songs he played were all funny, and so catchy that I've been singing the choruses to two of them all day today (one of which is the title of the entry). He's like a combination of Randy and Roy, Joan would fall at his feet in a swoon.

Actually, he's alot like Randy. The second song he played the intro sounded so much like him that I sat up straight, and then when he sang, in the voice of the character, he sounded like him, too! But it wasn't anything like a ripoff, it was very original and real, it was just clearly inspired by. Afterwards, we were talking and I said, "You're a Randy Newman fan," and it wasn't a question. He blushed and said that he had all of his albums. I wanted to tell him about the Criminals and the cd, but didn't get the opportunity to do so.

He is also a star waiting to happen. He and John should do a concert together, because they are so different, but it's easy to really dig both of their work.

Then was the peculiar act, and I don't even have to pretend to guess at their names as I never caught them. They were a couple of grads from '00, a boy with a shock of dark curly hair and another with long blonde hair that the MC introduced as Kid Rock. Honestly, they didn't even look as though they would know each other, let alone do an act together.

They performed two songs, kind of turn of the century traditional tunes, but the dark kid didn't sing, he song of brayed the songs as Kid Rock played a little blue uke that belonged to his grandmother. I'm not certain if I can express the wonderful oddness of them, and how funny they were. They had the complete confidence of the very young.

And the last guy, the marimba guy, told a story about how when he was at school a teacher played them a guitar recording where fifteen parts are recorded, layered ontop of each other, and the sixteenth part was meant to be played live, and he thought that he wanted to try it with the marimba. Some years later, at Oberland (what Justin called "Interlochen II") he finally did it, but he had to split some of the parts and couldn't play one live, so it was 22 different marimba parts making up one piece.

And it blew my mind. I don't like many instrumentals, I never have, I can't connect to them without hearing a human voice, like when I didn't like photographs without people in them, though I got over that a long time ago. But this was incredible, like water, I could feel it on my skin, surrounding me. When it was over, I opened my eyes like I had been in a dream, and saw everyone else doing the same.

It was like being hypnotized. If I do anything bizarre in the next couple of days, selling all of my belongings and moving to Portugal, start to eat only bananas, mushroom and fried liver, or begin worshipping a small can of creamed corn, you'll know it was the fault of the Mad Marimbist.

And I performed too, of course. I thought about singing, but decided that reading was the better part of valour, and I didn't have to worry about finding an accompanist. I read the passport story, of course. Man, I read it at JournalCon, it was the Christmas card this year, and now this--it's a good thing that I'm an idiot, I wouldn't have such a crowd-pleaser at my fingertips!

And it was, baby, I killed. And afterwards, I met lots of nice people who all came up to me and said how much they liked it and asked how to find my website and things, and everything was much easier after that.

Justin-Whose-Name-Might-Be-Something-Else came and chatted with me about journalling and things, and I gave him my card so that he'd let me know about his upcoming performance. I wish I'd had a chance to talk more with him, as he was really funny, but there were so many people that that was impossible.

O, and I also networked! No, really! Kind of accidentally, but I did! This woman came and talked to me about a passport story that happened to a friend of hers, and I mentioned that I was a photographer, and she said that she was too. Now, she had been taking pictures all night with a little instamatic, but I could tell by the way she was framing shots that she was a real photographer, and I was right!

She said that she was good at shooting dance because she was a dance major at IAA, and I recounted shooting Melissa's Symphony was made easy for me because I was used to orchestras due to IAA! Then she mentioned a group that needed publicity shots that she couldn't do, and maybe I should get involved with them, and we traded cards!

Just like a person who actually wanted to make money as a photographer!

Anyway, once we were done, I tore out of there like a motherfucker, even though it looked like everyone was all into standing around and talking for another few hours, I don't think I could have done it.

Though I realized afterwards that I wanted to talk more with Sue and Justin and the photographer woman and that John and I barely exchanged a word, but when I go into flight mode, nothing can stop me.

One weird thing, as I was leaving there was this boy whom I actually hadn't laid eyes on before was by the door, and he looked at me and said, "You're leaving? But we didn't have a chance to shmooze!" and I wasn't certain if I was supposed to know him or not, so I said, "Who are you?" "Tom. Have you met my associate, so-and-so?" "I have now, and I gotta go." "Maybe another time, then."

And all I could figure was that they were making fun of me. Guys don't talk that way to me, (and I realize that written down it doesn't look like much, but the way it sounded, my reaction makes sense), especially not guys who appear to be 22 years old, and if they were teasing that way, I don't think that was very nice.

But I didn't let it ruin my night. Which was really great. When the show was over, Cari said that we should make it an annual event, and everyone cried out with one voice "ANNUAL?! No, no, more often than that! We want MORE!! More I say, more!!" so I think it may occur slightly more frequently than that, though of course the Alumni Association can only be providing the coffee urns and rental glasses and things once a year.

But we're Interlochen alumni! We don't have to have refreshments, we only need the opportunity to show off in front of each other!

Today's horoscope:
Business and pleasure mix today, be it an office party, celebrating a new job, getting together with colleagues from work, etc.

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Last Updated Sun 27 January 20:07:09 2002