Confessions of the Starving Artist - 12/3/07

Hi Starvarinos! It's blogging time again, and we've had another action-packed weekend.

As you know the last Friday of every month is Open Mic Night at SAC&G. There are many reasons we have this event. The biggest is that a good open mic is not only entertaining for an audience and good business for the proprietor, but also a great school as well. It serves as a proving ground, a place to hone your skills (i.e., stage craft and other performing skills), and an opportunity to break in new material. The night also can be an audition. We have almost any kind of art performed and Friday night, November 30, was another mixed bag. Poets Magic Alex, Josh Glick and Marc Kaplan stirred us. Comedians Ira Wunder and Al Wagner made us laugh. The musicians were Love, Mara Jade, Marian Mastrorilli of Project Mercury, Jenn "Angel Wings" Santise (who will play our Young Musicians Night on Saturday, December 22, at 8 p.m.), and too many more to mention. You never know who or what will be happening. For me, the night was capped off by my beautiful wife, Monica, singing two of her favorite covers with great style and grace. (Can I come home now, honey?)

The next night, Saturday, December 1, was a fantastic "Saturday Night Blues Party." Bennett Harris plays the blues and plays them right. From deep and brooding to wild and rollicking. His finger-style attack on either his Gibson or his great old National Steel, played with a slide, took us all through songs by Robert Johnson, Reverend Gary Davis, and Blind Willie McTell, to name but a few. It takes a lifetime to play like this man; make reservations next time because the place is always packed for him.

Warm food and cool jazz is a great way to deal with Sunday snow. The City Island Jazz Quartet took the stage December 2 and warmed the day old school style. Jazz standards performed flawlessly by band leader Roger Scala on sax, Gene Zilempe on bass, one of my favorite drummers, Mark Pultorak, and on guitar, jazz legend Lou Volpe. The solos from these guys were at once hot and cool. Roger, weaving his way beautifully through the songs, plays his melodic West Coast style to rounds of applause. Gene on bass copped some great moments too. Lou on guitar - with his flying fingers and masterful technique - painted the day with fire that is all his own. Mark's turn came when they traded fours and he played like he lived inside that moment. By the time the last set ended, night had fallen, and we had forgotten about the weather and went home with our souls warmed against the night.

Click the links in this blog. Click on Glick at Neil Young's Living With War web site - #103 and #105 this week. Tune in next week for the next episode of "the blog." And of course, come in, and live right.

Elliott Glick