Scenes From The Scene
From Your Humble Host,
Matt Jasper
Continuing my shameless promotion in print, I host an open mike at The Grind Café in Bellmore. It?s strategically placed on a Monday night with an acoustic cast of characters seemingly plucked from a Billy Joel song.
There?s Ukulele Ed, a strong supporter with horn rimmed glasses, high top Stetson hat, and tiny instrument, sporting the epitome of ukulele cool. The music he plays brings us back to a long forgotten time, when ukuleles ruled the airwaves. ?Acoustic Andy? Devay is another familiar face, often testing out female singer-songwriter material, expanding his vocals to fantastic, nearly feminine heights.
It?s a place where all sort of performers, regardless of age, skill level or style are welcome. We?ve had musicians, comedians and poets at the open mike, including Jesse Rosen, who packed the house full of her high school English class, Jodi Green, who has a beat poet?s flow, and little Julia Palikoff, reading about her cat Whiskers. Attending such a night lets you see performers grow more comfortable with the mike, until they turn into the comedians.
A consistent open mike has the fostering of a community. The Grind has this already built with its customers, and has its regular crowd. In addition, you get to see a different side the longer you attend, like watching Stuart Marcus, who plays a variety of styles, from farcical folk, to sea shanties. We found out his love of the sea on a whim, after he played a shanty show, shivering me timbers.
Open mikes can be fickle in its attendance one week to another, depending on the weather or the holiday schedule. It?s a game of Guess Who, located conveniently by the stage. April started particularly cruel with torrential downpours, and a rush of holidays wiped out a crowded March. The Monday before Easter was another Passed Over open mike for us, and by 8pm, only Ukulele Ed had shown.
He was MIA for a few weeks, so I inquired what happened. A casualty at home had taken him off of the front lines of the stage. A long conversation followed on handling life?s paths, and choices made. Ed told me, ?You realize that the harder you try to fight what life hands you, the less likely you are to succeed at it.? Still, I replied, ?You can look back on the choices you made, or you can look forward to the choices you still can make.?
In another era, Ukulele Ed had a band. Recently the drummer approached him, wanting to play together again. However, the bass player was the one he really clicked with, the perfect blend of vocals, like Paul and John had. The bass player had already nearly moved on. Ed had told him, ?When you?re ready, I?ll take the Ukulele preface off, and play guitar again.? Ed will decide whether the Uke gets retired, and if he does, it?ll gently weep. I looked at Ukulele Ed as if he had three heads. I had seen he was indeed a guitar player, with the heart of a ukulele.
That night we had a number of patrons come in, so Ed and I rotated through a few short sets, playing a song for the broken-hearted, the newly started, those in it for the long run, and those out for a little fun. After the night had begun, a few young ones entered. The Palikoff?s had arrived to celebrate Brittney?s orchestra concert which had just ended. ?My Cat Whiskers? was reprised by Julia, and Brittney treated us to a solo performance culminating in her and Ed trading off ?Somewhere Over the Rainbow?s? on dueling cello and ukulele. So Ed sang us the song as the ?Ukulele Man? through the mike that is open to all attending on any given Monday.
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