Michfest 40: The Saturday Slow Down (Part 5)

Monday September 7, 2015
I’m on the bus again and there is nothing sexy at all about it. It is not a tour bus taking me to some swanky venue; it is the bus I take home to see my family because I don’t have a car anymore. That went the way of my first London trip with my band in 2007. It was either fix the car or take my $600, which was going to turn into $300 when I hit the UK shores with me one my trip. I chose the latter. I had some charity come and pick up the car for donation and that’s been it ever since. In essence that is the story of so much of my life, the sacrifice for the music. Now luckily in New York one can make that kind of choice without much worry because public transportation here, though in need of help, is still top notch. I learned that first hand in London when the Tube stopped at midnight. No such thing in NYC. You might have to wait a long while, but the train is coming.

Now riding the bus is always interesting. There is never a dull moment. I’ve been on a bus that broke down on Christmas Eve and they never talk about a refund. I’ve been on the bus that broke down in the Bronx on the way back to NYC. The Bronx? I mean I’m damn near home. I actually contemplated if I could make it across the Bruckner expressway on foot to get on the 6 train, which I knew was nearby. It would have been a real life Frogger situation if I had tried that one, but I did run across the Ohio Turnpike in 2009 to get the stuff that flew off the top of our van on the way to Fest so I was confident. LOL. I’ve been on the bus where the fuses have blown. Really? I’ve been on the bus caught in so much traffic that the 4 hour ride to Boston turned into 7! But through all these scenarios the objective was to get to my childhood home or to Brooklyn my chosen home. The things we will do to get home. Michigan was my chosen home, but sometimes I think it chose me.

On a Side Note: The night I wrote this entry the bus I was on actually broke down right as we were going through the toll plaza to get into the City. Some chick (sorry to sound like that, but you know what I’m saying) in her infinite wisdom and entitlement thought that she was going to get off the bus at the toll plaza and catch an Uber or a yellow cab right there. Of course the Port Authority authorities shut that shit down! But on the real, when they got the bus moving we only got as far as 2nd Avenue & 88th street when that joint broke down again! This time there was another bus coming behind us because it had been called when we were on the toll plaza. I finally made it home, but not before one of my friends came to pick me up at Penn Station where the bus let us off. What a night...

In late August during my Cali trip post-Fest I talked to Vicki about my sadness. She said she wasn’t feeling so bad because so many of the people that she loved from Fest were in her town or nearby so she knew she would see them again. I told her that it’s not so much the people, which I know I will see again, but it is the place, which I’m not so sure I’ll see again, which gives me pause. Luckily I’m in a business where I can put out an APB and say, “Hey folks, I’m coming to your town to play! Come see me!” And if schedules and the stars align there will be womyn in the house! There will be the faces and the love I remember, but I know that is not the case for everyone. I spoke to many folks on the land who were really sad about the possibility of not seeing certain people possibly ever again. One woman expressed the fact that she wanted her ashes spread there. Would that be able to happen now? Would her daughter who is not invested in that experience at all, honor her mother and bring her ashes back to the land because even if the festival never opens its gates again, the land is not going anywhere. Right?

Home is tricky. A slippery slope. For many of us, as soon as we were old enough to leave in some form or fashion we are out! I know I was and I love my family. But this place, as I said, was chosen or for some it chose us. For some we had no idea it would move us like it did. Me? I know I had no idea at all.

Saturday, August 8, 2015
This morning is always the longest if you are in Chix Lix. We have sound check in the morning that seems to never end. You could go and run two workshops and come back and that joint would still be going on and you wouldn’t have missed your spot. It’s real like that. On tap for Night Stage were Hanifah, Ferron and Chix Lix. That morning my voice was in even worse shape. I was trying not to panic, but I was surely concerned. So during this long sound check I really didn’t sing. I just said I was conserving so that I could make it all happen later. Folks got it so it was all cool. Also I knew folks heard what I sounded like so it was best for me to shut up.

Hanifah’s checked first I think. I just remember it being before Chix. I remember us being able to get through a few things and then we had to wrap it up and keep it moving. At some point during all this I got to talk to Gina. I think I was just looking for her so I could get the Loquat honey for my throat, but on the way to her tent I told her what happened at the sweat lodge the day before. So with that she went to work. I think I mentioned something about my witchy friends and Gina one of them.  I knew I was going to be OK, but she reiterated that point. She also told me to shut up and rest for the day, which I did, but with reluctance because that meant I was going to miss Staceyann on the Acoustic Stage and Crys Matthews, Mouth of Babes and Bitch on the Day Stage. I was bummed about that. I really wanted to see both sets, but Hanifah’s set and Chix were the original two sets that I was hired to be there to do. So I had to pull it all together.

I got the Loquat honey and went to my tent and lay down and went to sleep. I could hear Staceyann and Bitch wafting through the air. That is one of the beautiful things about workerville. Because of where it is situated you can hear everything. I could hear the crowd go up in a roar for Bitch during her set. It almost made me cry really. She’s been having such a time with protests from cowards who don’t know her. Humans are so good at making assumptions and believing their perceptions of others and not so good at real conversations and asking honest questions. More often than not, we just want to be right. The hell with the truth. But I digress...

 Showing Bitch big love! 

As I was in and out of sleep in my tent I just prayed I would make it through. I woke up and thought I should start doing some vocal exercises to see where I really was with my voice. Thank Goddess for Jeremiah Abiah my vocal coach because honestly he got me through everything vocally that night. The things I have learned from him are invaluable and I’m not done learning by a long shot. Am I giving my man a shameless plug? Hell Yeah! He’s the truth!

Me in my tent pulling it together

As I was going through my warm-ups I knew I was going to have to modify some things that night. My upper register was nonexistent. I just had nothing. Well nothing with power anyway. I could get up there is some weird space in my body that I knew was all wrong so I was just staying out of that lane for tonight. After a bit more prayer I pulled myself together to go eat. Of course I wasn’t talking to anyone at dinner cuz I had to keep it close to the vest. After dinner I got my things together and headed to Central Heating. Hanifah’s set was up first.