NEWSLETTER

FEBRUARY, 2006

It never ceases to amaze me how many wonderful performers we have living in the Carolinas. This Valentine month we feature once again an (almost) all North Carolina line-up for your enjoyment:

FEBRUARY 2 – EVERY MOTHER’S DREAM (JAY AND MANDY). Duo singer/songwriters from Black Mountain return.

FEBRUARY 4 – MENAGE. “Soulful swing and such” from this female trio from Asheville.

FEBRUARY 9 – JON SHAIN. Great combination of musical ideas and impeccable
guitar work.

FEBRUARY 11 – BUCKERETTES

FEBRUARY 16 – SAM ANDERSON. Sam’s intuitive musicality often leaves our audiences breathless.

FEBRUARY 18 – MEL JONES & HIS BAG OF BONES. Powerhouse master of acoustic blues plus terrific harmonica sounds.

FEBRUARY 20 – ROBERT SEILER. Soothing piano music to enhance your dining pleasure. All tips go to the Children & Family Resource Center in Hendersonville.

FEBRUARY 23 – TOM FISCH. This singer/songwriter doesn’t have far to come from Flat Rock to perform for you.

FEBRUARY 25 – WILD HOG BAND. South Carolina-based bluegrass band featuring Charles Woods on banjo.

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My wife and I recently escaped the cold weather to spend a week in Zihuatanejo, Mexico (the “paradise” the Tom Robbins character longed for and reached in “The Shawshank Redemption”). Because it is a place where many Americans go, we encountered some Mexicans who spoke some English. Mostly, however, the English that local people knew was about as limited as the Spanish we had learned (and forgotten) many years ago in school. This required us to be far more attentive to what and how we communicated with them and vice versa to make sure that we understood each other. (I am, however, happy to report that the word “cerveza” rolled seamlessly and effortlessly off my tongue as often as I needed it to.)

It got me to thinking about how little attention we pay to each other when we talk. For example, how often is your attentiveness and openness to another person influenced by the “label” you think describes them? You know, terms like Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, rich, poor, young, old, straight, gay, Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc., a list that can go on and on.

Because of these labels we find ourselves filtering what we say as well as setting up barriers to what we hear. Our minds and hearts are paradoxically both open and closed at the same time. What would happen if we ignored the “labels”? How would it change what we say and do to one another? Would it engender that same understanding, respect, courtesy, compassion and care we certainly hope to receive and think that we deserve? How might it affect the way we strive for peace, justice and well-being of all people in the world that we instinctively know is deep in our heart of hearts?

Bennett Sims, in his book entitled “Servanthood”, reports that the most common greeting among the tribes of northern Natal in South Africa is the expression sawu bona which means “I see you.” The reply might be sikhona which means “I am here.”

“I see you.”

“I am here.”
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Rosa Parks died recently. As you recall, she was the black woman who would not move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama back in 1956 which triggered a boycott of the bus system by blacks in that city. Howell Raines wrote a book some time ago called “My Soul is Rested” about that time in history. Someone asked a black woman who was walking to work rather than riding the bus how she was bearing up. She is said to have replied, “My feets is hurting but my soul is rested.”

Rosa Parks said, “Memories of our lives, our works and our deeds will continue in others.”
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Some of you know that we have a dog which is a mix of lab and standard poodle. Mixing breeds is all the rage nowadays. Here are some other possibilities sent to me by a reader:

Spitz + Chow Chow, Spitz-Chow, a dog that throws up a lot
Pekingnese + Lhasa Apso, Peekasso, an abstract dog
Terrier + Bulldog, Terribull, a dog that makes awful mistakes
Bloodhound + Labrador, Blabador, a dog that barks incessantly
Bull Terrier + Shitzu, oh, never mind

Robert Seiler
Purple Onion Café
www.purpleonionsaluda.com