Onederlust Tour 6/15-6/16 Rochester: Barbecuing, Boarding, Beshures
Father's Day, Goodbye to my Syracuse
family
I started
celebrating Fathers day as best I could, with a call to my Dad. I
have a lot to be grateful for especially in regards to him and
because of him. He stuck by me and did everything he could to make
sure I was happy and taken care of. He is a talented musician and is
really supportive of all of my musical endeavors and always wishes
the best for me. After doing so, celebrating aloud his successes as
a father and my gratefulness for him, I spent some time writing.
Kyle, Helena and I wished Mr. Crowell a Happy Father's Day as well
and after some talking and well wishing we got ready to drop me off
at the bus to take me to Rochester. The Crowells are kind and dear
people, being sure to remind me that I always have a place to stay in
the area “Never pay for lodging when you're in town” they assured
“Even if Kyle isn't here, you are always welcome to stay with us”.
It is this kind of eye-watering hospitality and sense of community
that baffles me time and again and motivates me to believe in the
goodness of people and attempt to further pay that forward! After
some delicious breakfast Kyle and Helena dropped me off at the bus
station with best wishes and love, and I was sad to see my friends
go.
The Magnetic Warmth of Rochester
The ride to
Rochester was brief and I arrived in the afternoon. As I was driving
in I saw the modest little cluster of buildings and all of the
rural/suburban aspects of town and felt good about it. There were
lots of quirky and artful independent storefronts, art studios, pet
shops, skateboard shops and so on. There were murals and paintings
on electrical boxes in an attempt to offset the industrial ugliness
and people were outside with generally warm countenances absorbing
the beautiful weather. Having never been in Rochester I was
surprised to feel a natural sense of magnetism to the charming little
area. Something about the place made me feel at home, the
“metropolis” area wasn't overwhelmingly large, but offered a
contrast to it's woodsy outskirts and modest suburban neighborhoods.
Even from afar, the natives were a people of alacrity. My friend Rob
Beshures, whom I know from my year at SUNY Oswego, picked me up with
a big smile (proportionate to his towering stature) and drove me to
South Wedge Boards, the spot we'd be performing later that day. Rob
is a talented aggressive inline skater, health and fitness nut and a
musician. H and his younger brother Mike befriended me while at
school and I've always known them both for being gregarious and
inviting. When I was booking the tour, they asked me to stay with
them and assured they'd arrange an event for me to perform, and
arrange they did in what I'd come to experience as typical Rochester
hospitable fashion. I was thrilled to do my first performance at a
long board shop.
South Wedge
Boards is an independently owned custom/handcrafted long board shop
owned by a grizzly and friendly guy Nick. The storefront is almost
incognito, blending in amid houses on a hilly block that several
people were skateboarding outside of. We parked in the back of a
dirt lot and offered introductions as I stepped into a store and
workshop in the making, with quarter pipes and racks of boards,
couches near a big full bay window that overlooked the street a
segment in which Golden Rd. Clothing (a clothing company that shares
the space with Nick's workshop) had their gear set up around couches
and television hooked up to an old Sega Genesis. There was a
home-made coffee table on wheels made out of a warehouse pallet with
a hole in the middle filled with candies. There were photos and
paintings decorating the walls. Everyone was immediately like family
and it felt like I was already part of the community. Nick was
setting up a barbecue that he would man all day while the skaters
cruised along the road dodging cars and skating homemade obstacles.
I met the bearded punk rock looking fellow, Kasey, who was one of the
performers, who lent me his skateboard to cruise around on the
obstacles, an opportunity I could not miss. Kasey has a great sense
of life and humor he raps and produces well and enthusiastically
under the name “Dreadful Operator” and this show was the release
party of his project “Mental Projectiles”. While Rob went to
pick up some gear to set up the music inside the small living room
area indoors, I cruised around and befriended, stretching physically
and socially, happy to be back on a skateboard and in the sunlight
after the overcast few days prior. Over the course of the afternoon
dozens of people gravitated towards the shop, skateboarders and
musicians and friends of both. I met the Beshures family, Mom, Dad
and their youngest, Claire, who were to be my generous hosts that
night. I was impressed and delighted that despite Father's Day,
committed to seeing their sons play (Rob to open the show, Mike to
finish it) and support the show. Old and new friends and artists
congregated, sweat accumulated on the skaters, burgers and dogs were
passed around. Inevitably, six o'clock came about and Rob started
playing inside among the artful long boards and Sega Genesis playing.
Guitars, Pianos, Mics, Words HEARTS
Rob Beshures performed
an acoustic set to warm up the night complete with sweet and
lighthearted original songs and a unique cover of “Floater” by“Every Time I Die”. There was such sincerity and passion in his
set and people were really respectful of him.
The vibe was
very much like that of an intimate house concert and when Miles aka
“Cu-Cu” went up, with his experimental electronic music, the
crowd ebbed and flowed with the juxtaposed energy of his set. Some
songs were fun and silly, others serious. We talked for quite awhile
before his set and it was obvious from his back story, years of
performing on his own in his room and writing songs and being in and
out of bands in high school and college he loves music. He is an
artist in the purest sense, constantly experimenting and learning for
the simple love it it. From my layman's point of view, his ambient,
thoughtful piano and vocals are reminiscent of Ben Folds, and while
he admits to getting that a lot he doesn't see the comparison
entirely himself. With introspective and thoughtful lyrics and
interesting effects and beats and piano riffs to accompany them, his
set was an enveloping one.
Up next came
emcee and poet S.A.I., who has an initially intimidating appearance I
likened to Immortal Technique. He turned out to be a personable and
vulnerable guy whose socially and politically informed lyricism made
my comparison relatively accurate. He performed a short set of
heartfelt bilingual works that transitioned the attentive crowd into
the poetic and hip hop styles of the next four performers.
Then came an
excellent and seasons traveling spoken word artist Louis “AgelessPoet”. He got involved in the show when Kasey met him performing
on a subway. The anecdote Kasey shared in his introduction was that
Ageless Poet got up on the subway, performed and then sat back down
with no monetary request, clearly for the love it. He
re-appropriated the “swag” trend as an acronym “Spoken Word
Affecting Generations” and shared that dedication and ethos with
us. He energetically and effectively shared a handful of polished
sincerely beautiful poems that celebrated everything from creativity
to the importance of his mother (who raised him and gets happy
mothers and happy fathers day cards). He was confident yet humble.
Ageless Poet set a nice
pace for my performance, between the emotion, energy, style and
consciousness. I performed a nice long set that people responded
heavily to. Continuing the spoken word trend that had begun, I
opened with “anti-social-net-work-ethic” and in honor of Father's
Day performed “Pennsylvanian Patriarch” and went on to do a set
that encapsulated my entire catalog, released and unreleased and
finished on “Desert Diaries”. The people of the crowded room
gave so much energy be it respectful and watchful quiet or energetic
participation when it was asked for. This was easily my favorite
performance of the tour and the rest of the trip is going to have a
hard time topping it!
After I went
up, Kasey a.k.a. Dreadful Operator went up, performing an a capella
piece and then a bunch of fun hip-hop songs from his new album
“Mental Projectiles”. I relate to him for seeming like the
unlikeliest candidate for rap talent based on face value and then
coming in and dropping jaws. He produced all the beats, save one, on
his project and had a huge excited aura and energy about him. You
could tell through his presentation and lyricism that first and
foremost he is in love with hip hop In a traditional sense. From
line to line he'd have fun wordplay and drop a poignant idea on you
and then rap about something silly like eating pizza in a sort of
unbridled, open stream of consciousness.
My dear friend
Mike Beshures closed the show out with a beautiful set of organic and
spirit expanding songs It was nearly 11 o'clock and his set was just
a transcendental experience of sincerity. He played original songs
on ukelele, banjo and classical guitar singing about love and life
and nature in pure rhapsody free of embarrassment. He is a
whimsical, energetic and sincere person in his everyday life and when
he is given an instrument that childlike demeanor transforms to a
desire to somberly and openly ventilate a philosophical and emotional
fascination with life. It was inspiring and exhilarating, complete
singalongs from Rob and Claire and others in the room.
After the show
many people generously introduced themselves to me and complimented
me on my set and purchased albums of mine and supported me. Everyone
that performed exchanged CD's if they had them and there was such a
wonderful sense of community and eagerness to assist one another.
Many of us exchanged numbers and best wishes for travels and lives
and it was a genuine collective of people who were sharing love and
thoughts and ideas and hope to see one another grow and evolve and
prosper!
The Beshures' Home
The
next morning I was admittedly slow to wake, comfortable in my guest
bed. Mike made french toast, sausages and potatoes and he, his
girlfriend Shawna, Claire and I ate. The Beshures are a very
creative, open and connected family. They all are musicians and
singers, there are organs and pianos in various rooms, the walls
decorated with all sorts of instruments. Mike showed me around his
property, it struck me as interesting and beautiful that there were
no fences between the yards. After watching some Wayne's World and hanging out being a little lazy we felt stir crazy. Eventually come the afternoon, this languid behavior became intolerable and we sought out a place to enjoy the weather, however sweltering it might have been. We ended up doing a hike in these beautiful redolent woods of Abraham Lincoln Park.
Finally, a "Lincoln park" I could enjoy! The woods and trails
and trees had such deep rich colors and smells of warm soil and
compost and the air felt so fresh and alive and happy to be breathed.
We hiked along, I climbed some felled trees and we saw a bay hosting
some meandering boats in the distance. Finding ourselves sweaty and
fulfilled, we returned home. Mike and I talked on the porch a bit, I
packed my things and said goodbye to Claire and Shawna. Mike made me
an eclectic bag of foods that sustained me for a week and brought me
to the bus station to head to Buffalo that afternoon with hugs and
best wishes and plans to return and perform together more. If you
are ever near Rochester, I highly recommend you go, it is a friendly
and beautiful little place and I am a better person for having the
experiences I did there! Off to Buffalo!
Gravity
doesn't tell us we can't fly,
it
asks us how much we want to.
-AllOne
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