2002-05-14
Open Mic Night, posted at 12:00 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com The last four days have seen me firmly entrenched in the music scene in this city. I've spent the past four nights in a row enjoying live music, last night culminating in an open-mic night at a dingy bar called The Brass Monkey. Hosting Kristen has been fun, but I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit relieved she's off to Philadelphia to do some shows for a few days before she returns for the house concert this weekend. Relieved not because I don't like hanging out with her - I think we've become good friends in the last few days, after being merely friendly acquaintances before - but because I've become behind in both grading and school work.The Open Mic night was fun. We showed up at around 9pm, after getting turned away from the 8X10 Club. We were the only ones there, and they explained that the crowd showed up at around 11. We hung out for a while after Kristin was guaranteed the first spot in the lineup. We drank Blue Moon on tap and enjoyed conversation with a lot of fun slacker music types. I ran a few blocks away to Soundgarden and bought the new Lauryn Hill CD (Lauryn Hill Unplugged 2.0) and the new Weezer CD (Maladroit), then returned in time for Kristen's set. Man, was she ever "on" last night. Where I thought she sounded more tentative than usual on Saturday night in the church basement, she was superb last night in the easygoing dingy bar atmosphere - giddily stomping her feet as she energetically strummed her guitar, throwing the word "fuck" in my favorite song of hers ("Someone Else's Arms"), etc. The crowd was wowed. One guy called her "mesmirizing" and refused to follow her. Sure, they were all appreciative music types, but they were more of a rock crowd - not a girl-with-guitar crowd. And she won them over. It was fabulous.
Josh went out with us last night, after a drop-by visit right before we left. I still think he's a great guy. When we dropped Kristen off at the door of the bar so we could go park, he said, "You've got to find a girlfriend like Kristen, dude." I agree. But her boyfriend, who she lives with, sounds like a great guy. Ah well. All the good ones are taken, it seems.
There was a funny, semi-related moment between Kristen and I at Target the other day. We were shopping - her for some sandpaper and superglue to fix her guitar with, me for a school shirt - and she said, "Hey, you want me to buy you guys a bathroom rug?". I joked that her followup line should be, "...cuz you really freaking need one!". She said she was giving me practice for when I have a girlfriend - instead of saying, "You need a bathroom rug," a girlfriend will ask if you want one as a gift so not to offend. Maybe you had to be there, but I thought this was funny.
Oh, and I now have a fuzzy blue rug in my bathroom.
We got in at around midnight, and I once again had every intention of going to the gym in the morning. Once again, I overslept. That means I've been to the gym once (on Sunday, with Kristen) in the last four days. That sucks.
Today has been a decent day otherwise. I was well-rested, having slept in until 7am. My supervisor informally observed me for fifteen minutes or so, and I think things went fine. I think my progress reports are due today, so I'm trying to get as much graded as possible. I think I'm heading to a coffeeshop with Nick tonight to get some grading done together.
I'm trying to get as much done tonight as possible, because Josh and I are tentatively planning on driving to Philadelphia after school on Wednesday for Kristen's show there. She's worried about the crowd, and I'd been looking for an excuse to drive to the city of Brotherly Love for some time now.