Velvet Guerilla Cabaret

To all audience members,
newcomers and long timers alike,
for your energy and warmth,
Thank you.

One of the many performers who exploded on stage was Benny. Yep, that dude again. He not only sang Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child” with a new gritty emotionally volatile spin, but his interpretation was so rich, so powerful, so original, so full of Holiday meets Waits meets the greatest blues n rock artists the world has ever known, that the audience (and yours truly) were blown off the planet, and out of our reality for a spell. After the hoots n hollers n thunderous applause, there was a kind of joyful numbness of our central nervous systems: our bodies were telling us we had just witnessed greatness (and the dude’s only 6 years old!… or 20, or something insane like that). I truly think he and that young poet Steven and so many of the Guerilla’s other youthful geniuses were breast fed from the teats of Steven Hawking… (picture it… picture it… now lose the visual)

If anyone can tell me where to get 3.25 hours (8:30-11:45) of this kind of quality entertainment (and for free!), please let me know. One of my favorite parts of the night is seeing the faces of newcomers in the audience, how entertained they are, and when they tell me: “Man, I had know idea this was even here. This is the best, most fun open mic I ever seen.”

The truth is, the reason these shows are so much fun, so rich, and so entertaining (regardless of the house or sign-up size) is because each and every one of you contributes in your own unique way. You’re willing to open your mind, your hearts, take risks, and support your fellow artists in expressing a part of themselves that must be seen by the world. This is no small task. What you do is more important than you realize. Again, thank you.

Guerilla Group Poem
penned by audience
superbly read by Joan F.
August 6, 2008

I read a poem
once upon a time
that told me to watch
the dock’s hands
sands of time
rhyme with
the line in my mind,
and it goes
Pie
Yeah, apple pie…
warm apple pie
write that down
by the way….
Cookiez!
So much talk of food
Food that tastes so good
If I only had more time
I’d tell you why
“food” and “good” don’t rhyme.
If only I had more time
I’d tell you all the secrets
I’ve learned, or at least
some of the lies learned
On-stage I told a lie
that I was “Hamlet”
But I’m not.
I’m an actor.
Sometimes…
Actors are liars
You can always be a golfer
and play it as it lies
This loosely strung skeleton
laughs at me
and I be what I be
today is Thursday next,
and I must confess:
she was beautiful…
like a rainbow?
Look what God did to us!
There is no way to escape.
However the song
from The Great Escape
is great to whistle
and Leonard Bernstein
would be proud
if the sky and clouds were green
and told me jokes
in a British accent…
What would be different?
The curve of your nose,
the hoops and the rows,
the falling of chances and the soft hellos
Mike! You are a god!
So take my hand
and we’ll eat pancakes
with grasshoppers.
Hey, Anytown!
My yearly home,
your malls, your bums, your boulevards
who make me want to roam.
I’ll roll a bomb down Main Street
make Anytown my own
fingernails
on what dreams
on what comes next
in this
ocean of
blissful erections
and fucked up
elections
that make
absolutely no difference
in my daily life,
but coming to
the UnUrban
now that’s
really
fuckin
COOL!

With Guerilla Love,

Michael S.

Do click here and watch the video. You’ll be glad you did.

Do click “previous entries” below (back one blog entry) to donate to the Joey Lutz Memorial Fund. Thank you to all who have donated. You are helping out a family in a very helpless painful time in their lives.