Open Mike at Peaberry's Cafe

Wednesday found me at Peaberry's Cafe.

On the right as I entered, the host Robert Alan was making a few microphone adjustments for a blonde lady with a guitar. I looked around to see where the other players had their instruments stashed. On the left in the front window area on a small counter with tall bar stools I spotted Eric's guitar case. There weren't any patrons seated in this area which made sense since you couldn't see the performances on the other side of the entry way from there. There were a few other guitar cases and a keyboard case lying about, so I added my beat up 12 string case to the collection.

Something had compelled me to ask Eric Paradine when we had decided to meet there, if I should bring my guitar. His answer had been an emphatic "Yes!". So many thoughts flooded in as I scanned the room looking for my friend Eric. Now, the blonde lady with the guitar was singing an old hillbilly gospel tune "Turn Your Radio On" and trying to get the patrons seated close by to join in on the chorus. Why do people do this I asked myself hearing three other voices, less than enthusiastically singing with the blonde lady "...get in touch with God, turn your radio on...". Walking to the far end of the room past the coffee bar. I spotted Eric seated at a table with four or five others engaged in lively conversation. Not wanting to interrupt I turned to the coffee bar and ordered a cappuccino. As I turned from the bar Eric spotted me, excused himself and came, shook my hand, stepped to the bar and added my name to the list.

The blonde lady with the guitar had finished singing and a short dark haired fellow with a nice voice was seated at a keyboard singing Italian love songs.

Eric and I seated ourselves at the far end of the room near an unlit fireplace and got down to the business at hand. An interview of Eric to be featured on the pappyyates.com website. As we talked I could hear some pretty good flat picking going on at the other end of the room. I assume it was the two fellows that had been seated on the sofas near the fireplace just before we had started the interview.

As we were wrapping up the interview someone said "Are you Ed (pappy) Yates?" I acknowledged and he said, "Your up."

Eric and I grabbed our guitars, walked on and did two songs that I wrote more than thirty years ago. As I strummed and sang, Eric who had never played the songs before, played some beautiful fill in stuff that really rounded the songs out.

Afterward Doug Hardy joined us and complimented the salad that he was devouring while waiting his turn at the microphone. Eric backed Doug up on a couple of old standards. A lady with a classical guitar and a voice that should be singing opera finished out the night and we all headed for the door.

As I drove down Rt. 10 on my way back to my apartment more than an hour away, I contemplated the whole concept of (open mike). What is it that draws people from all walks of life and who have varying degrees of talent and or skill, to sing, play and listen intently to one another sing and play music of all kinds. As I thought, my mind wondered back some forty years to a simpler more innocent time when as a child I would ether ask or be asked to (sing a special) in church. We were admonished that singing "making a joyful noise unto the Lord" was to be just that: something done "as unto the Lord". Truth be known, all those years ago as a child I was concerned with more than if the Lord was pleased with my "joyful noise". When some gray haired little lady would pat me on the head and say "sounds good young man" I was ecstatic. Not so surprising that the biggest compliment I got on Wednesday night at Peaberry's "That's a great sounding guitar." left me a little disappointed. Why though was I disappointed? It is a great sounding guitar. But try as I might say to myself "you did it 'as onto the Lord' and 'the message is what counts' I was still kicking myself that I hadn't played a different song or at least the same ones in a different key. Something, anything that would have earned me a "sounds good" and not just my guitar. No matter: I will go again and I will play and sing again at Peaberry's open mike and others. Because, we all have something to say and as long as my fingers will form the chords I will continue to say what I have to say with words and music.

I still play on the worship team at church and I would be less than truthful if I said it didn't make me smile inside and out a few weeks ago when a little gray haired lady came to me after church and said "sounds good." I was however disappointed that she left off the "young man".

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE MANAGEMENT AND STAFF OF PEABERRY'S CAFE in Simsbury, CT for opening their establishment to those of us who need to hear "sounds good" once in a while.