6/9 & 6/10 The days with Lefebvre's in Providence!
Welcome back good people of the world!
Monday, June 9th was a really relaxed day, which was welcome thanks to all of the traveling that the weekend brought. I was back at Owen's family, the Lefebvre's house (pronounced leh-fave) and they treated me like family. Owen had a full day of work and it was an overcast day so I spent it inside at their house writing and reading. His mother Libby, his brother Myles and his father Chris are all really funny and overtly generous and supportive people. Being there felt like spending time with family and they all really treated me very well and I lived comfortably. He has three silly dogs that were fun to play with. Libby took me out to brunch at IHOP and we got to know each other over sandwiches and coffee, I told her a lot about my intent and experience with poetry and music.
I worked on my new song some more and once Owen got back we all ate burgers for dinner and had a very strange but good salad that Libby made with watermelon, cucumbers and feta cheese, as a little family and later went to Dairy Queen. Their family in excessive generosity and hospitality had foot the bill on all my food expenses, and even ended up buying some t-shirts and albums and pre-ordered the Bard's Annual '14 Poetry Anthology that two of my poems will be published in! This level of support is immense and she meticulously made sure that she had access and owned all of my music and merch there was to own, it was beyond sweet and outrageously encouraging and helpful! Owen and I watched a few rap battles online.
Tuesday morning I worked on writing a bit while Owen had some errands to run, he ended up taking me out to lunch at a really cool little place called J's Deli. Their slogan is "It's not just a sandwich, it's a meal!" and they were right! The bread was really amazing I got this "South Of The Border" sandwich that filled me for the next 10 hours. Owen and I exchange halves so I got to try the buffalo chicken style "Inferno" sandwich as well. Evidently they started out in gas stations and ended up making a few individual stores as they were doing so well. I thought it was really unique and interesting that they package and and produce their own supply of cold cuts out of Pennsylvania, they were absolutely delicious sandwiches and I highly recommend supporting this local venue if you're ever in
the area and hungry! Owen and I helped his mom get all of her Itunes songs between two computer hooked up and put all my music on her Ipod as well! Although a little humid, we wandered around his neighborhood and practiced our songs and I rolled around and played with his funny dogs. Owen and I went shopping with his mom briefly for pizzas and we all shared hilarious stories and got to know one another. We didn't end up having the time to eat, but Owen's mother decided to come with us to the open mic we were planning on attending. As the evening drew near we had an open mic at The Spot Underground to perform at before our headlining set at The Dive Bar in Providence...
Owen has been performing at The Spot Underground's Tuesday night open mic for a few months now and has developed a rapport with some people. In order to enter the brick building you first have too ascend two stories of grated steps reminiscent of a fire escape to enter an industrial door. Once inside there is a tall stage to your left, vast pillars, comfortable couches, a full bar, artwork everywhere and a very welcoming artistic ambiance that seems to say "we're happy you made it, and we're happy you make things...we'd love if you'd shared them". Their website (linked above) boasts that they have live music every night! Despite this, there was a dry-erase board that depicted a nearly full open mic list, evidently Providence is a scene inundated with performers of all sorts willing to ventilate their creativity! There was a table of artwork for sale and that bar-staff was friendly and didn't mind my usual water-only requests! Speaking of those, I got an unexpected request from Libby to perform "What's Your Problem?" which I gladly fulfilled, but only after Owen and I performed "Walking Nightmare" with my poem at the end of it and "Quality Vs. Quarantine". Our performance was really successful and I felt great about it. A nice young guy named Dylan Titus who makes experimental sometimes-rap-influenced music under the name "Shy" was emphatically supportive about our set purchased some CD's and spoke to Owen and I about independent and creative music. He also was kind enough to share his aptly titled "epic fries" with us! Check out his work, it is very erratic but definitely interesting! We met a handful of other great people some of them who performed! Among them was Mike, a singer-songwriter who street performs regularly and did some lighthearted original songs on stage! Owen and I bought recordings of our set from the amicable sound guy Caleb who is affiliated with Circle Jam Productions,so you might expect to hear those sometime!. We said goodbye to all of our new friends, while Libby lauded and applauded us both!
Performing In Providence (The Dive Bar)
Around 10:30 we dropped off Owen's mom at his house and with the encouragement from her and the attendees of The Spot Underground we headed to our second performance, a headlining spot at Dive Bar Providence. Despite it's title, it was really more of a club environment, and despite THAT title, our performance, while sticking out like a sore thumb, went over really well. We were booked by Rich Collier who works with Keynote Company promoters who is responsible for A LOT of the event booking in Providence, so if you're looking for a show..use the link above to contact that guy! At the front door while standing outside, one of the people who was warmer and enthusiastic and interested to hear our performance was a new friend, a fellow rapper "Rowlan". Unfortunately we missed his set, but he was interested to hear our performance based on our unorthodox appearances, and traded us some music and contact information. It was around midnight that we performed and there were some stragglers left from the acts before us and true to his word, Rowlan and a handful of his friends hung around to listen.
We opened with "Creative Differences" which was such a challenging and polarizing vibe and message from what the acts before us were offering and people were immediately really impressed, and some of them had a look in their eyes that seemed to indicate that we were making them reconsider their banal or dishonest creative choices. A few of the more combative and inebriated rappers left, but a few people were all eyes on us and remarkably supportive and reactive to what we were presenting. In one incredible display, a guy Jason was sitting fifty feet away from us all the way on the other end of the venue out of sight because he had a hurt leg. When he heard one of the lines in my piece on Walking Nightmare, he got up and hobbled painfully over because (he said) he absolutely had to catch the rest of the set. Bless him, I wish him a speedy recovery! We performed every song without a syllable's slip up and had a great energy despite there being a smaller crowd. My policy is that one should perform and give the entirety of themselves to the audience no matter how many people make it up. If there were 100 people around the 10 that are watching you'd give them your all, so why not do so regardless of who surrounds them? The smaller crowds appreciate it all the more when you dive deep into the music, and it really paid off, we made a lot of friends, sold some CD's and made a lasting impression for sure, it was a fantastic way to end my stay in Providence! This performance has reminded me how excited I am to share this material with you all!
On the way out, we befriended a charming girl Alexa, tending bar for her first night who was hilarious and seemed to genuinely enjoy what we had done. To celebrate our experience, and new friendship we took some silly photos with her outside of the venue and shared a lot of laughs! Owen and I, buzzing off of our most successful performance of my visit, and anticipating an 8am work shift and a 10:20 bus to Albany, respectively, went home and promptly fell asleep. On the way home he told me a story that I decided was worth rendering into a song, but the details of that, I will leave to the headphones to communicate!
Goodbye Lefebvres..Hello Albany!
It is Wednesday morning 6/1, and I said my goodbyes to Owen, in the aftermath of our experiences during my trip and the completion of our album he will be delving into making Libby and I, who has taken to regularly treating me like a son (minus the chores, sorry Myles and Owen!). got another IHOP breakfast with me and sent me on my way to Albany with inspiring words full of hope and encouragement. I will miss the Lefebvres, they have made my life in the first few days of my journey a beautiful thing. Owen and his family have been absurdly philanthropic in their support of my journey and I am a better person for knowing them. So I board my first Peter Pan Bus anticipating a 5 hour trip to Albany, with plans to perform during a poetry event at the Capital Pride Center and an air of mystery in regards to where I will stay for the next two nights, hopefully poetry and smiles will find me a roof and a cot...wish me luck!
p.s.
Mike Setteducati of Archangel Graphic Design made a tour poster (with more dates to be announced) for the Onederlust tour! He also has been working on developing and producing a new interactive card game that I have played varying iterations of over the first half of the year and he has perfected it to the point of being really fun and fascinating. It is based off of a ninja combat concept and is called San, Ni, Ichi!!! Please click the game title to discover his game and support it however possible, it is a really worthwhile project and endeavor!
Case of the Mondays?
Monday, June 9th was a really relaxed day, which was welcome thanks to all of the traveling that the weekend brought. I was back at Owen's family, the Lefebvre's house (pronounced leh-fave) and they treated me like family. Owen had a full day of work and it was an overcast day so I spent it inside at their house writing and reading. His mother Libby, his brother Myles and his father Chris are all really funny and overtly generous and supportive people. Being there felt like spending time with family and they all really treated me very well and I lived comfortably. He has three silly dogs that were fun to play with. Libby took me out to brunch at IHOP and we got to know each other over sandwiches and coffee, I told her a lot about my intent and experience with poetry and music.
Rap Battles are my guilty pleasure, it's interesting to draw inspiration from the complex writing and involved performance styles that have gone on around the world. Some of those writers such as Bender (with his group Flight Distance) and my friend 24/7 make actually good music that I recommend highly. Good honest lyricism and musicianship is rarity among battle rappers, who often use the musical platform to continue to vapidly perpetuate their brag-nonsense-battle-rhymes. Others I find simply entertaining, hilarious or clever despite being generally purposeless! Eventually, all the laughs to be had were had and we passed out, with rehearsals and two Providence shows on the horizon.
My last day with the Lefebvres (Tuesday 6-10-14)
the area and hungry! Owen and I helped his mom get all of her Itunes songs between two computer hooked up and put all my music on her Ipod as well! Although a little humid, we wandered around his neighborhood and practiced our songs and I rolled around and played with his funny dogs. Owen and I went shopping with his mom briefly for pizzas and we all shared hilarious stories and got to know one another. We didn't end up having the time to eat, but Owen's mother decided to come with us to the open mic we were planning on attending. As the evening drew near we had an open mic at The Spot Underground to perform at before our headlining set at The Dive Bar in Providence...
Performing in Providence (The Spot Underground)
Owen has been performing at The Spot Underground's Tuesday night open mic for a few months now and has developed a rapport with some people. In order to enter the brick building you first have too ascend two stories of grated steps reminiscent of a fire escape to enter an industrial door. Once inside there is a tall stage to your left, vast pillars, comfortable couches, a full bar, artwork everywhere and a very welcoming artistic ambiance that seems to say "we're happy you made it, and we're happy you make things...we'd love if you'd shared them". Their website (linked above) boasts that they have live music every night! Despite this, there was a dry-erase board that depicted a nearly full open mic list, evidently Providence is a scene inundated with performers of all sorts willing to ventilate their creativity! There was a table of artwork for sale and that bar-staff was friendly and didn't mind my usual water-only requests! Speaking of those, I got an unexpected request from Libby to perform "What's Your Problem?" which I gladly fulfilled, but only after Owen and I performed "Walking Nightmare" with my poem at the end of it and "Quality Vs. Quarantine". Our performance was really successful and I felt great about it. A nice young guy named Dylan Titus who makes experimental sometimes-rap-influenced music under the name "Shy" was emphatically supportive about our set purchased some CD's and spoke to Owen and I about independent and creative music. He also was kind enough to share his aptly titled "epic fries" with us! Check out his work, it is very erratic but definitely interesting! We met a handful of other great people some of them who performed! Among them was Mike, a singer-songwriter who street performs regularly and did some lighthearted original songs on stage! Owen and I bought recordings of our set from the amicable sound guy Caleb who is affiliated with Circle Jam Productions,so you might expect to hear those sometime!. We said goodbye to all of our new friends, while Libby lauded and applauded us both! Performing In Providence (The Dive Bar)
We opened with "Creative Differences" which was such a challenging and polarizing vibe and message from what the acts before us were offering and people were immediately really impressed, and some of them had a look in their eyes that seemed to indicate that we were making them reconsider their banal or dishonest creative choices. A few of the more combative and inebriated rappers left, but a few people were all eyes on us and remarkably supportive and reactive to what we were presenting. In one incredible display, a guy Jason was sitting fifty feet away from us all the way on the other end of the venue out of sight because he had a hurt leg. When he heard one of the lines in my piece on Walking Nightmare, he got up and hobbled painfully over because (he said) he absolutely had to catch the rest of the set. Bless him, I wish him a speedy recovery! We performed every song without a syllable's slip up and had a great energy despite there being a smaller crowd. My policy is that one should perform and give the entirety of themselves to the audience no matter how many people make it up. If there were 100 people around the 10 that are watching you'd give them your all, so why not do so regardless of who surrounds them? The smaller crowds appreciate it all the more when you dive deep into the music, and it really paid off, we made a lot of friends, sold some CD's and made a lasting impression for sure, it was a fantastic way to end my stay in Providence! This performance has reminded me how excited I am to share this material with you all! On the way out, we befriended a charming girl Alexa, tending bar for her first night who was hilarious and seemed to genuinely enjoy what we had done. To celebrate our experience, and new friendship we took some silly photos with her outside of the venue and shared a lot of laughs! Owen and I, buzzing off of our most successful performance of my visit, and anticipating an 8am work shift and a 10:20 bus to Albany, respectively, went home and promptly fell asleep. On the way home he told me a story that I decided was worth rendering into a song, but the details of that, I will leave to the headphones to communicate!Goodbye Lefebvres..Hello Albany!
It is Wednesday morning 6/1, and I said my goodbyes to Owen, in the aftermath of our experiences during my trip and the completion of our album he will be delving into making Libby and I, who has taken to regularly treating me like a son (minus the chores, sorry Myles and Owen!). got another IHOP breakfast with me and sent me on my way to Albany with inspiring words full of hope and encouragement. I will miss the Lefebvres, they have made my life in the first few days of my journey a beautiful thing. Owen and his family have been absurdly philanthropic in their support of my journey and I am a better person for knowing them. So I board my first Peter Pan Bus anticipating a 5 hour trip to Albany, with plans to perform during a poetry event at the Capital Pride Center and an air of mystery in regards to where I will stay for the next two nights, hopefully poetry and smiles will find me a roof and a cot...wish me luck!
Much like my ethos in regards to performance, we shouldn't fail to give the entirety of ourselves to life, as we are invariably blessing ourselves with receiving the experience of an enriching performance!
-AllOne
p.s.
Mike Setteducati of Archangel Graphic Design made a tour poster (with more dates to be announced) for the Onederlust tour! He also has been working on developing and producing a new interactive card game that I have played varying iterations of over the first half of the year and he has perfected it to the point of being really fun and fascinating. It is based off of a ninja combat concept and is called San, Ni, Ichi!!! Please click the game title to discover his game and support it however possible, it is a really worthwhile project and endeavor!
Comments
Post a Comment