The Whirlwind of interesting (Worcester, MA & ghent, NY) March 2010 (with a little bit of February)

Dear March,
Thank you for the winds of change. I still don't quite understand how it happened, but that's okay, i like it better than the gap.
Much love,
Liz

So technically things started to get interesting in February. February was the first Gonzo cookoff I entered. Dr. Gonzo is a friend of mine who makes uncommon condiments.
You should totally check it out, and if you like tasty spicy things you should get some. My mom, who does not like spicy things likes the blackfly mustard on hot dogs.
http://www.drgonzos.com/
It was the snowshoe roadkill challenge and I made kamikaze turkey sliders with kamikaze drinks.

There is a lot to these competitions, and I have learned that it is best to go in with help. Chad was somewhere around there passing out food for me most of the day. It was lots of fun. (photo by Chris Robarge)

It was also where I met Alana.
(technically this photo is from a later gonzo event, but whatever, it's a good photo)
So I'm probably going to try to be good about crediting her and other people for the photos. Alana is a photographer and she took a ton of photos of me between March and June
Here's her website. http://www.alanamelanson.com/
Here's a secret, I don't always like having my picture taken, some times I hate it. I don't mind goofy pictures like the one by the grill where I'm doing like 5 things at once, but other pictures take some time to get used to.
But then again as March went on I was hanging out at Gonzos, and hanging out other places where she was one of the people taking pictures, and being in places where my picture could get taken so I kind of had to get used to it, and just kind of accept myself in pictures.
Alana made it easier, because she would get ones that I would look at and go "yeah that looks like me." And I like me as a person, so it got easier to just accept the pictures.

Anyways Alana is also partially responsible for me going to the Dirty Gerund in the first place.
The Dirty Gerund is a poetry show with music and snacks and ruckus held in a bar called Ralph's diner.
www.dirtygerund.com
I used to go to poetry open mics at the poets asylum when they were held at the java hut when I first moved to Worcester about 7-8 years ago. I hadn't gone to poetry stuff in like 5-6 years, but back then there were three people's stuff I almost always liked Alex Charalambides, and Bobby Gibbs, and a dude named Jon Wolf who used to host it. (not that there weren't lots of good poets, and lots of people's stuff I liked regularly, but those three stood out) So when Alana invited me, and I saw that Alex was hosting with Nick (who I remember meeting at the Java hut when he was just out of high school and just starting to come around with his stuff) I figured it be worth checking out.

I think March first was the first one I went to. It was fun and they had snacks which makes everything better. Sometime that week I got possessed by a poem. It pretty much wrote itself in my head on the way home from a class, and I decided I was going to read in the open mic at the next one. and of course Alana was taking pictures.

My hand with the book in it shook, and I was really quiet on the mic, but I had a good time, and Jon Wolf was the feature, so it was good. I don't remember if it was that night or later ones that I would sit next to Bobby in the back so i could just listen.

I think I got addicted after that. I wanted to do better. Shortly after that was when I wrote my voice is not for microphones, so that i could stop being so shaky and scared on the mic.

Also during March Dr. Gonzo himself kept telling me to write a Sea Shanty, and come perform it at his songwriters challenge night. I had only been to the first one in September when almost no one knew about it, and came up with a little ditty about fall. This is why Stu knew I could do it, and he kept bugging me until I did. He helped me with accompaniment, and I had fun, but I didn't realize there would be like 8 people many of whom perform regularly bringing their songs. Mine was just kind of a story with a tune,

Tis a sailor’s tale he told to me

And it took him all night long

A story of days on the sea

And the call of the siren’s song

Come come drink with me Come

Drink in the night drink in desire

Drink though the moonrise and the tides

And I’ll set you free.

On his ship he heard the calling

he and all his mates

Under the spell they’re falling

Into the hand of the fates

DRINK (chorus)

While drinking in he kept his head

So he never got so drunk

Never laid him down to bed

But he watched as his mates were sunk

DRINK

The siren was true to her word

As soon as the tide went out

Her music he no longer heard

On a beach he lay about

DRINK

The siren’s song rang in his heart

Like a record that did skip

He knew that if he played his part

He’d return for another trip

DRINK

He took his ship back to the place

Of the siren’s song of lore

But then the words changed for our ace

A dance’s what’s she’s asking for

DANCE (chorus with dance instead of drink)

Our hero first he felt alarm

But was nimble on his feet

And as he spun her in his arms

Their dance now it was sweet

DANCE

Next morn he felt the beaches sand

And saw the swimming fish

Missing the touch of her hand

A return to her he did wish.

DANCE

He sailed out for the third time

With memories of her breath.

He shouted out above her rhyme

Without you I’d rather death.

DANCE

The sirens song changed it’s word

In what she was asking for

He knew that he’d do what he heard

And they’d be forever more

Come come make love to me come

Love in the night love in desire

Love through the moonrise and the tides

And we’ll both be free

Our hero ceased to tell the tale

Then spoke the lass at his side

He took from me my lonely wail

And made of me his bride

DRINK

SO men out there who’d be so bold

To try to tame a siren

It just might be you get to hold

But you never know quite when

DRINK

I like the words, but I tried to get the crowd going because the last time I sung in public I'm guessing was in college, and probably involved a chorus. It was fun though. I was supposed to go last, but got out of that because i told Dr Gonzo I couldn't sing in a corset and I had brought my corset.

The above pic is from Thomas Caywood, the rest are from my cameraThis is Dr. gonzo doing his song. I like this pic because you can see the hot topless peppers sign in the background.
My friend Mike switched me so he could go last
There was a jam session afterward. In the middle of that picture is my friend Shane. He wrote a Sea Shanty too.
At the time Shane's band was the backing band for the Dirty Gerund and even outside of that in the past 6 months I've seen him play a ridiculous amount of times in various styles of music. I only have pictures of some and will only list ones that are pertinent to story telling, but since this is the first time I'm posting his picture I'll put his website in here http://www.ticklebombmusic.com/tickle/.
And here is the corset as promised. Stu kept saying I was supposed to have an eye patch, but i think he looked better in it.
The next night I ended up going to visit my parents. I don't remember why, but I do remember visiting my friend Corinne and her dad at their farm in Ghent NY.
Corinne had just gotten two horses. This is one of them.
She also had booked her dad a massage, because he had been doing farm stuff.
They are growing lots of garlic, and at the time she had tons of other seedlings inside.
However if you ever go to Corrine's farm you have to be prepared for the craziness that is Meatball.
Meatball does not bite, but barks his fool head off until you come over and can play fetch for days.
The farm is huge and very peaceful (except for Meatball)
Because it was my first visit I made Corinne a tour poster, even though i didn't stay.
I headed back home because there was a benefit concert for the Q coffeeshop/arts corporation that was trying to get a larger location, and a number of local bands were playing. Alana had been a regular at the Q and so she got me to go to a bunch of Q events at that point. This becomes important later, because there were a lot of people I met in passing or saw play that I got to know more later.
However the Q is still doing their arts thing, so they get a shout out too, since it was because of them i met all these people, even if I came at the tail end of that incarnation.
http://theq.bbnow.org/about.php
At one point I had pictures from the last day at the Q, but i think those got eaten when my camera switched over. Besides this is a long enough post for March don't you think?