Host Notes – August Brick & Mortar show

Aug 11, 2010
Category: Brick & Mortar shows, News

by Laddie Ray Melvin

The open mic portion of the August Brick and Mortar concert introduced us to a new writer, Ms. Chris Conerty, who I hope will be a featured artist before long. We also enjoyed the return of our friend, Mr. Jerry Renyolds, who I hope will return before too long as a featured writer.

Our first featured act was Bill Tierney, guitar and vocals, and Brian Jones, bass. We learned what it means to be “Anybody But Me.” Thankfully, things change. In the song “Gotta Be Free” (backed by a J.J. Cale shuffle) the character reminds us that “where I go there I am.” I think that’s always a good thing to remember. The journey continues in Bill’s song “I’m a Man of My Word.” Here we learn that to “return from the land of the dyin” is to “find your limits before you’re done.” “It’s a Done Deal, Baby” (backed by that Bo Diddley beat) reminds us that “if you don’t get lost you can’t be found.” I’m beginning to sense a theme here. The song “Downstream” with its soft rock minor key feel tells us that what we seek is downstream, that the past is past; it’s that go with the flow thing we need to be reminded of once in a while The songs that closed Bill’s portion of the show included “Folsum Prison Blues,” “One More Time” and a song about love and loss. Someone famous once said that there are two human stories we tell over and over. One is about love, and the other is about loss.

Our second featured artist Keith Milligan’s set celebrated family connections in a song for his grandson, and later in the evening the song “Fly Away.” There were songs that reminded us of the Viet Nam era anti-war sentiments that formed the collective consciousness of a generation. The most successful of the two anti-war songs he sang was, I think, was “Child of the Fifties.” I also like the way his “Blues in the Key of Zen” echoes an older blues that reminds us that it ain’t nobody’s business but my own. We can’t ignore history. In another vein, the song “What Can I Do” is a love-at-first-sight song. “I was yours before I had a clue” pretty much sums it up. In the song “I Am a Survivor” the singer ponders what it means to be free, to live life as one sees fit, while reminding us that “life’s what happens to you.” The song “Heaven in Your Eyes” has a Loggins and Messina feel that sent me back to another time and romantic place I haven’t revisited it awhile. Finally, his song “Love Held High” evokes the dreamer in all of us. A truly countercultural stance. The poet William Stafford once wrote that “real writers really write.” We are lucky to have a community of writers who really work the wilds of song craft.

I’ll see you next first Thrusday at Coffee Social for another Brick and Mortar show.

Laddie Ray Melvin