Smashing evening at Progressive Grounds Cafe

Last night at Progressive Grounds Cafe in San Francisco producer Brian Vouglas opened The Local Vocals Variety Show with a few charming little guitar ditties and songs, then read a couple of pieces on heritage, DNA, and native roots, the theme of the evening. Next on was Phil Deal who said his saxophone represented the masculine energy in his music and the clarinet the feminine. Free flowing jazz...then he played both instruments at once! It was great! Then he played two wooden flutes, one from Peru and one from Hawaii, and accompanied Brian at various points throughout the evening.

Tough act to follow. Fortunately, Brian stepped in to sing some Woodie Guthrie and old Simon and Garfunkle tunes, did a few riffs. Brian has a fabulous voice and a lot of range. By now the place was rocking and the birthday party people had begun to fill the back of the room.

I resurrected a chapter from my memoir, which incorporates some film ideas from my film script days. It's all about growing up Jamaican and the lives of my ancestors.

About my audience - those who stayed with me: I had to use a mike as it got louder and louder.  I stood in front of the room of about 35-40 and, mike in hand, and just read 10 pages. In dialect. In character. The entire time, I was thinking, I should just stop and let people relax. Wrap it up. 

Well, it was TOUGH! I clung to my hand-held mike for dear life, and I focused, and afterwards, those in the front of the room who listened to me came over to tell me how fab the reading was, how great the book sounded, how they wanted to read the book, how my voice and acting and voice-over skills were incredible. And, the lovely woman at the front door with the tip jar said she heard every word and wanted more.

Brian segued nicely into "Yellow Bird" by Harry Belafonte, picking up on my Jamaica themes and the yellowbird, a drink I discovered with my grand aunt in Port Antonio. Brian added a few twists to the lyrics - not all about girls. 

Yellow bird,
Up high in banana tree
Yellow bird
You sit all alone like me

Did your lady friend
Leave the nest again
That is very sad
Make me feel so bad

You can fly away
In the sky away
You more lucky than me

I also have a pretty man
He not with me today
They all the same
The pretty men
Make them the nest
Then they fly away

Yellow bird
Up high in banana tree
Yellow bird
You sit all alone like me

Better fly away
In the sky away
Picker coming soon
Pick from night to noon
Black on yellow too
Like banana too
They might pick you someday

Wish that I was a yellow bird
I'd fly away with you
But I am not a yellow bird
So here I sit, nothing else to do

Yellow bird
Up high in banana tree
Yellow bird
You sit all alone like me

Did your lady friend
Leave the nest again
That is very sad
Make me feel so bad

You can fly away
In the sky away
You're more lucky than me

Yellow bird
Just you and me
Yellow bird
And a little one make t(h)ree

 

  Here's the Kingston Trio version: http://youtu.be/fkpUuB37L-I

  Here's the Chet Atkins version:  http://youtu.be/0qJs3yghlk8

 

Next up was the singer John Rendon, who does kind of a rap to  a driving prerecorded beat. Wrap up by Brian, then lots of applause. There will surely be more Local Vocals Variety Shows, and I hope to be back.