Occupy the Yellow Sofa--a Rant and a Plea

For too long have the .000000001 percent corporate-sponsored musicians maintained a stranglehold on the megaphone of musical consciousness in this country.

What gigantic thumb on the scales of popular taste accounts for Foreigner's "Double Vision" being played on thousands of trips into Trader Joe's and in the airport news stands where $4.00 bottles of water are sold. I don't mean to single out "Double Vision"--which is a well recorded and composed song. To be honest, after I goofily pretended to boogie out on it, as a joke to my shopping partner, I then found myself a scant few minutes later without mental filter, actually humming it, no more reflectively than a parrot (or leg humping dog) might do. . .

"Ooh, when it gets through to me/
it's always new to me/
My double vision always seems to get the best of me,
the best of me". . .

It is time that we stopped regarding the infinitely echoing soundtrack of competently produced banality as music. It is actually as a kind of vaccination against anyone either caring about music, or trying to make it themselves. Why do Selena Gomez and Foghat get all the fun, while the souls of billions of people at a time of epochal change must die with the music locked within them? Just asking?

We are the 99.99999999 per cent. . .
We are the 99.99999999 per cent. . .

As Mario Savio might have said.

"There's a time when the operation of the mass-media dominated music becomes so odious that you've got to put your fingers on the power buttons, upon the faders, upon the sliders upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless music is free, the machine will be prevented from working at all." That time is tonight.

Come to the Sofa tonight. Listen to real humans like those pictured below, articulating sounds as only doomed, big- brained primates can.

Be one of the people bearing witness to the sublime and ingenious and touching sonic invention and expression that redeems the human experiment to the angels. Be one of these people. Support the Sofa, one of the rare public spaces where it can happen. Make your own music, and listen to music. The whole world is watching. . .(--television, and that's part of the problem). Occupy the space in you and in all of us that isn't!

--A message brought to you by Thursday's Open Mic host,
an unpaid person using the internets

Open Mic Tonight

Tomorrow is Armistice Day--the anniversary of the end of World War I--an event which led people to see criminality and barbarism of elective war as a dead end (and sparked the beginning of the American Public Relations Industry, in order to reverse such common sense in the mass media). If you study or work in a school or work in a government office, chances are you don't go in on Friday. Consider staying out late tonight to celebrate the progress of humanity towards a better world.

Could coming to a cafe for a gathering of live performers bring about world peace? Consider: When a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon, so the theory goes, a hurricane forms somewhere eventually.

The Law of Unforseen Consequences isn't just a good idea--it's the Law.

Example: Unseasonably warm weather preserves foliage on trees late into October.
Then, an early, but heavy, snow in the Northeast
weights the leaves and branches,
which causes limbs and trees to sag and break and fall on powerlines,
which causes more than two million people to be without electric power
giving a lot of song writers extra time in unheated homes to write a bounteous crop of new
songs on acoustic instruments
many which get played at the November 3rd Open Mic:

Noah Schmitt (cello) and Rob Douglas (guitar) play Noah's song "Dish After Dish". An insanely catchy tune written from the perspective of a brilliant rock cellist/dishwasher. Rob later debuted two new songs himself, including "To Think That There is Always Hope," a highlight of the evening which he performed in a characteristically humbly-humorous way, (nearly, but not ultimately) obscuring its (and his) fabulousness.

Felix Harvey plays "Sorry, I Missed the Bus," a song of his so finely made, that once heard, it is that is hard to imagine that there was a time before it existed.

Electric (even during power outages) and talented Laura Titrud, who would headline at the Sofa the next night, unveils a newly-written song, last Thursday.

Your correspondent, and bassist Rob Douglas play a new song Thursday night.


Peace Out
--The Yellow Sofa Open Mic

Oh My Gosh I Should Go to the Open Mic Tonight

You know you would be glad.

What the Open Mic is. . .

It is tonight beginning at 7:07 p.m.
It is for anyone who wants 10 minutes on a stage with an appreciative audience.
It ends up being a performing community, but just because people come here a lot, and like what they hear and like each other, but if you like that sort of thing, all you have to do to be part of it, is be there.
It is a place of tremendous possibility that the, with performers and musicians and talkers and stand ups and poets and bands show up in a one of the highest creative talent areas in the northeast, and regularly surprise and amaze those who are there.
Sometimes bands who are going to play at the Iron Horse come in to do a live practice (that has happened more than once).
Sometimes people who have never gotten on stage come up and delight everyone (that has happened a lot.)
It is a place to hang out.
There is middle eastern-style food felafel, babaganosh, soups and more, as well as coffee, and more.
Don't let television win. Come out and take part in live performance. It needs human power.

--Sofa

Thursday Open Mic Tonight

Lately we've been joined by some fabulously talented new regulars, such as stand-up comics (Chance, Corey Dimmer) and new singer songwriters (including Brian Stokes, Jackie and more). It has been really great just to be surprised and delighted by the scene developing at the Sofa--in the middle of the summer, no less, which in previous years has tended to be like a month for Oysters without an "R" in it.

Hope you can come out tonight. The Christophers (Goudreau and Griffin) will lead the end-of-night-singalong and have selected a Neil Young jam song beloved by generations of teen aged guitarists for its fabulous intimations of rock and roll glory, for its unchallenged ease in soloing and for its rarely-questioned, questionable lyrics: "Down By the River (I shot my baby)" from the indispensable 1969 Crazy Horse Album "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere."

Also hope to see many of you at the Michael Silverstone and the Foregone Conclusions show at the Sofa this Saturday Night, Aug 6 @ 8:00. More information at:

http://www.michaelsilverstone.net/p/upcoming-concerts.html

Openly,

Mic-hael

Come Out Tonight to Listen and Maybe Join in

Dear Yellow-sofateers,

The more we do this thing at the Yellow Sofa, by the grace of its management, the more I realize how and valuable it is. What do I mean by "this thing?"

Last night, in search of another open mic to play music, I went to a place, where there were comedians telling jokes. I thought, "Oh good, I like comedy." After a violence against women joke followed by a swearing at a heckler joke, followed by three self-degridation jokes, I decided to leave and go listen to sports radio for some higher consciousness and uplift--and found it in a discussion of why J.D. Drew was currently worthless to the Red Sox and should be replaced with this guy named Riddick who has excellent stats in limited at bats. It felt like listening to Mozart. But I'm someone who thinks Margaret Cho, Bill Hicks, Dave Chapelle, and Sarah Silverman are geniuses on the Alice Walker level.

We may suspect what a wasteland our commercial culture can be, but I did not realize what brutally barren stretches the local public culture contains--and how rare when there is a place where there with is a sense of "beloved community". This term was originally applied to the non-violence based-Civil Rights followers of Dr. King, but in a more general sense, for me, it applies to wherever feelings of inclusion and affection allow people to feel seen as themselves in a community trying to achieve something together that includes taking care of all of the people it comes in contact with.

There is something we are trying to achieve, I can see. It is to make a place where someone can come in and get listened to and where we can practice listening and being open to performers. What happens is that there is a high level of audiencing being practiced. In this field of trust and appreciation, people boldly bring or discover their A-game. The feeling of encouragement and acceptance become self-sustaining. Excellence is common, and excellence takes many forms, including direct expression of what is genuinely true for the person on stage. How rare to see people in their truth, offering what matters to them, and calling out more of this in one another. 

Performers from the Open Mic have begun to do feature shows on Friday and Saturday night, that draw crowds of new listeners and a core of people from Thursday nights. How cool is that?

Last week I had one of these shows, and because my regular band was out of town, I took an idea from Christa and Jeremy and invited people from Thursday nights to join me for a cover song we both liked. Here are a few of those:  Christopher Goudreau ("Eight Days a Week"/Lennon-McCartney), Christa Joy ("Love Hurts"/Bryant), Jeremy Anderson ("Time"/T.Waits), and Chris Griffin ("Pony Ride"/Silverstone)

Tonight's end of night song will be "Respect Yourself" by the Staple Singers.

Listen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1II2nPmBZJk

and follow here:

Respect Yourself/  Staple Singers

B

If you disrespect anybody that you run in to

How in the world do you think anybody's s'posed to respect you

If you don't give a heck 'bout the man with the bible in his hand . . . (y’all)

Just get out the way, and let the gentleman do his thing

You the kind of gentleman that want everything your way

Take the sheet off your face, boy, it's a brand new day

Chorus:

B               D B               D

Respect yourself, respect yourself

Respect yourself, respect yourself

F#

If you don't respect yourself

Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na

B               D B               D

Respect yourself, respect yourself

Respect yourself, respect yourself

Dada dad a dad a   Wa wa

Everybody  

Dad a dad a doo wha wha       Hit de de de de

If you're walking 'round think'n that the world owes you something cause you’re here

You're here you goin' out the world backwards like you did when you first come here

Keep talkin’ bout the President won’t stop Air Pollution

Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, that'll help the solution

Oh, you cuss around women and you don't even know their names

and you Dumb enough to think that'll make you a big ol man

Chorus

B               D B               D

Respect yourself, respect yourself

You oughta, yououghta Respect yourself,respect yourself etc.

Hope to hear you there,

Michael Silverstone

When the Ship Comes in

Hi Yellow Sofa-teers,

Beautiful day in summer. We notice this summer phenomenon. Summer open mics tend to start slow, then like moths, people come indoors seeking light once the sun has gone down.  If you have been considering getting up to play but would like a more casual kind of scene, aim for early this evening. We always seem to run out of time before we run out of players, but its a different scene at  6:30.

It's too nice a day to write too long an essay here, but two items.

Tonight's end of night song is "When the Ship Comes in" (Dylan--we're still in post DylanPalooza mode. Too many great songs to just quit on him.) Lyrics and chords to be made available tonight on site, but here they are below.

Also,  this Saturday 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at the Sofa will be my summer replacement band Michael Silverstone and The Foregone Conclusions and the show will feature a number of Sofa friends such as Dave Franklin, Christa Joy, Jeremy Anderson, Chistopher Goudreau, and more, doing cover songs that we love the best.

Hope to see you tonight,

Michael

When the Ship Comes In                  Bob Dylan

Chords:  G  D11? (x54030)  C  Em  C/B  D/A  D

G                           D11         C           G 

Oh the time will come up when the winds will stop

        Em          C             G

And the breeze will cease to be a-breathin

         G                D11             C           G          

Like the stillness in the wind before the hurricane begins,

       G           D          G

 The hour that the ship comes in

        D11       C            G 

And the sea will split and the ships will hit

         D11           C                G

 And the sands on the shoreline will be shaking

       D11                      C          G                  

And the tide will sound and the waves will pound

         G      C    C/B   D/A  G

 And the morning will be a-breaking

Oh the fishes will laugh as they swim out of the path

And the seagulls will be a-smilin'

And the rocks on the sand will proudly stand

The hour that the ship comes in

And the words that are used for to get the ship confused

Will not be understood as they're spoken

Oh the chains of the sea will have busted in the night

And be buried on the bottom of the ocean

A song will lift as the main sail shifts

And the boat drifts unto the shoreline

And the sun will respect every face on the deck

The hour that the ship comes in

And the sands will roll out a carpet of gold

For your wearied toes to be a-touchin'

And the ship's wise men will remind you once again

That the whole wide world is watchin'

DylanPalooza!

Wow, that was fun!  Not only did the sponsors come up with great prizes that were given away by random drawing to four lucky people in the room, but there was really, really, great music.

Special thanks to Ashley our music program director and Barista-in-Chief for being so continually awesome, to Darcy for also being there on Saturday, and also to Gabriel Moushabeck, the Sofa's impressario who continually pursues the special mission of running conscious and  community-centered  local business.  And speaking of which, additional  thanks to Turn it Up! CD's and More for donating a $25 gift certificate, to Downtown Sounds for contributing a $25 gift certificate for musical equipment, to Booklink Booksellers (the Yellow Sofa's favorite independent Northampton Bookseller) for donating a great Dylan photography book, and to recording master Jim Matus at Old Schoolhouse Recording Studio for his generous donation of the grand prize 3 hours of recording time (to the equally lucky and deserving Christopher Griffin!)

Newcomers Denny Wolfe, Tom Neal (on Ukelele), Jake Bernaz, Chris Shanahan, and many familiar Yellow Sofa potatoes like Fongster 100, Chris Griffin, Cristopher Goudreau, Jeremy Anderson, and David Waldfogel, did Dylan's material proud, although Bob would have said, "Just because you like my songs doesn't mean I owe you anything, man."

Maybe he's got his own point, but a lot of us owe a debt to Dylan for being a 300-year genius in a one-year culture, making it possible for us to think of music and our times in ways much more rich than a lot of us would have ever considered on our own--but now can. Just to keep this from getting too effusive, there was a really creepy but brilliant fictional characature of Dylan at age 70 in Miami Beach with a bunch of guys by the pool made by the baby boomer show-business id/kitch artist Drew Friedman (a personal favorite of mine, but then I also like to heat unbearable hot peppers and used to eat lemons when I was a kid) that we considered, but rejected using for the poster for this event.

If you performed and would like a lasting memory of your performance, filmmaker Curtis Simpson captured it on high quality digital, and can get you a copy of your performance for a reasonable fee. You can get ore details by contacting him directly at:

CRSMediaTech@gmail.com
Facebook.com/CRSMediaTech

I (Michael) am playing here at the Sofa on July 16th without the Silvertone Horns. I'm two-timing them (while they travel to the Cape and the Colorado mountains and such with my other band, Michael Silverstone and the Foregone Conclusions. I want to take a page from our friend Christa Joy's book. Like her I want to invite musical friends from the Sofa to share the night so  the concept is this, let me know if you're willing to play a cover song we both think is great, you can also do one of your own on your own or with my help if you want. Let me know by emailing at yellowsofa@gmail.com

For those of you that would have actually come out just for a Mr. Silverstone and the Silvertone Horns concert (and doG love you for that) you might enjoy peeking at my blog:

Songwriting and Stuff Like That: Ongoing documentation of an artist's various unauthorized do-it-himself pop music-making explorations, in the era of the collapse of musical imperialsism.

http://songwritingandstufflikethat.blogspot.com/2011/07/aint-summer-great.html 

Tonight's End of the Night Jam is another Three Chord Special, a sweet and cool classic blues structured song by Tracy Chapman called: Give Me Just One Good Reason

Doesn't that sound delicious? 

Don't forget how great she is, in case you ever do for a second.

We need someone to sing verses tonight. Study up, and I'll try 

and have some lyrics sheets.