Bobby Montgomery and Barbe McMillen
The DSA 4th Saturday Showcase at Angela’s on the Crosswalk will now be the DSA 3rd Saturday Showcase. At the showcase on January 21st, Barbe McMillen opened the show at 7:30. Steve Sullivan joined her on harmonica for a few songs. Barbe’s set included her song, America the Free.
Bobby Montgomery joined Barbe to perform a song the two of them recently wrote, Love Without Money. Then Bobby took the stage and played his country songs. Bobby songs are warm, old style country songs about hearth and home and coming of age. Like his song about dancing with his mother when he was a boy.
Darren Rozell
Darren Rozell followed Bobby and took the mood to up tempo country. His songs range from honky-tonk to a waltz to a bluesy tune. Songs such as I’m All Whiskeyed Up, Now, Don’t Water Down My Crown, and It’s Complicated.
Dan Roark (but you knew that)
I played after Darren. I began with Hello Out There, my song for those on the autism spectrum. I played a couple more songs and noticed that I could hear the conversations over the music. This is not uncommon when you play in restaurants or bars. And generally, it doesn’t mean they don’t hear you. Which is when I play Chocolate Eclairs and Supermarket Wreck of 75, to get the crowd going and involved. Which they did.
The final act for the evening was Richie Smith. Richie sang his songs to tracks on his iPod that he played through a Bose speaker. Richie had an operation four years ago for stage 4 brain cancer that left him paralyzed on his left side. On other occasions, he plays piano with one hand and sings. A couple of weeks ago they discovered that Richie is in remission – which is supposed to be impossible. Obviously not for God though.
Richie Smith
Richie’s set included his song, For A Reason, which is also the name of his charity foundation. He also played Lemonade, a song written for his mother. Tunnel Vision is another good song – and one of his oldest. A song Richie wrote for his paternal grandmother included a recorded phone message she left on his answering machine. Following his set, it was time for the obligatory group picture. Richie’s mom takes the picture. My son, Cameron, took the picture with her in it. [More pictures will be on Facebook.]
The picture is a tradition when Richie plays, and we might just make it one for the showcase. All in all a good night of music, with plenty of talent and variety. You should try to make the next showcase on February 18. I’ll be posting the lineup soon, but it’s sure to be a good one. I’m working on a few surprises.
Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.
Peace be with you.
I mentioned a few posts back that I had people talk to me while setting up my sound system. They were friendly and well-meaning, but they kept asking questions. Which disturbed my routine and I missed a couple of steps. It’s harder to find the problem later when you think you’ve done everything as usual.
A friend from high school, Claudia Noble-Stooksberry, posted in a W.T. White Facebook group. With the Valley View Mall shortly becoming a memory itself, she asked for memories of the mall. It was finished in 1973, before our senior year. As you look at the picture of the McDonalds, ponder this: McDonalds and the Target to the right behind it were the only businesses there. Most of the buildings you see in the picture were not there. The McDonalds was half the size it is now. Across the street from both was a lot of dirt that led to a dirt cliff. On the hill, at the top of the cliff, was Sears. When they put Christmas lights up, you could see them for miles around.
long hair then, much like I do now, but it was a little more red then. I had to wear a wig at work. It was the closest I could come to red – cheaply – but it looked on the purple side to me.
Anyway, people gathered around, ate food, and visited while listening to the performers. There was a station set up on the wall with Happy New Years decorations on the wall. On a bench sitting to the side were hats, glasses, and other props for people to wear in often humorous pictures. Since I was a visitor – as it were – I didn’t take any pictures of people posing for New Year’s pictures.
When a dog or dogs bark on TV – or there are any animal sounds at all – Buddy heads to the television. Our son, Conner, rescued Buddy from his former “owner” who had him chained on a short chain in the backyard. His food and water bowls had ants crawling all over them. Conner told them he was taking the puppy and brought him home.
and partly – again, still – because he can. He still gets this look on his face that says, “this house is freaking cool!” Having Misty to play with is a bonus. At times it seems like he remembers before Conner brought him home. If we do a certain thing – we haven’t quite figured out what it is – he’ll snap at us. Not to hurt us, more as an automatic response.
Chasing After Wind 