Dying for Some Action

For the second time in just over two weeks, I heard an outstanding cover of Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark." But that came after the sad poetry and the sad love songs.

My evening began at Chop Suey Books for the Dream Horse Press book tour with a SRO crowd of poetry lovers. First up was Kyle McCord from Des Moines reading from his new book Galley of the Beloved in Torment. Beginning with "Necessary Evil" and through a parable that began "A man drank a bottle of bleach" to "Everything is Gathering," the evocative nature of his poems was a thing of beauty.

Saying that he wanted to write a poem about the moon, that most over-used of images, he decided instead to write a conversation with the moon. "Out on the veranda, moon, you fall into another drink." That could be my favorite moon imagery ever, except that an old boyfriend once wrote me a poem invoking the moon as a metaphor for me, so McCord's moon poem will have to come in second in my book.

Keith Montesano read next from his new book Ghost Lights and his firm, strong voice carried his words to the audience, many of whom knew him personally. One poem suggested waking up his lover and wiping the sleep out of her eyes to inquire,"Is everybody in favor of getting romantic?" (Me, raising hand, "Um, yes?").

I was particularly touched by his "Elegy for an Unknown Drummer," a tribute to Ra-Ra Riot's late drummer John Pike. Amazingly, when Keith asked the audience who knew the band, no one else did. Favorite line; "Poetry can never replace a house show."

Following such beautiful spoken word, I went down to the Canal Club to meet Andrew for some sung word. Singer/songwriter Jane Carrey opened the show and was perhaps a bit nervous. "I'm way too Canadian to make a joke," she explained after a failed attempt at humor.

Asking how many death metal fans were in the audience, one person clapped, but then who would expect there to be much overlap between Matt Kearney fans and death metal fans? It was her way of introducing "Sexy Man in a Death Metal Band," surely destined to become a classic.

Matt Kearney was sans band, having only another guitarist/vocalist with him, Tyler.It made a big difference, though, in fleshing out the sound for his heartbreak songs, his lost love songs and his missing you songs. A girl could get sad listening to that kind of stuff for long.

It was a seated show and the intimacy of the room made for a great listening room experience (thanks, Andrew, for inviting me). It was Matt who eventually covered Springsteen, inviting an audience member to come up and "drum," that is, tap his foot on a 70s Samsonite hard suitcase with a mic inside. It was home made percussion at its most creative.

After the show, we decided to stroll over to Rosie Connelly's since neither of us had been there in some time. The bar sitter next to me, clearly a regular with his ponytail, beard and gregarious nature, was welcoming and wanted to know where we'd been. I told him, leading to all kinds of music talk.

He'd just been to see Smashing Pumpkins at the National last week, as had Andrew, so they compared notes. He recommended Zoso, the Led Zeppelin experience band and a personal favorite of his. We'd both been to the Peppermint Lounge and so discussed that venue. He raved about Porcupine Tree's recent show here. You just never know where you'll find good music talk (and, I might add, one of the best selections of high-end tequila in the city).

I can't decide if I am just dancing in the dark or if I just want to be.

I'm dying for some action
I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
Come on now, baby, give me just one look