And Now For Something a Little Different...

Several years ago our son, Jake, shared a CD of music by Potter's Field.  Rochelle Clark and John Natiw form this group which sing a folk like type of music. Rochelle was an apprentice at the Purple Rose theater in Chelsea when Jake was an apprentice there. I fell in love with the music and purchased a CD for my own enjoyment. Potter's Field has a Facebook page which I have liked. Through this I got the notice they were coming to Louisville, Kentucky for one night. I shared this information with Claude and told him I would really like to go see them. He said sure.

I checked the website of the location for the performance. It was named the Rudyard Kipling. The Rudyard Kipling is basically a very old home with a little history that has been converted into this bar kind of spot with an area set aside for musicians to perform and sometimes a little theater group. If the musicians are an out-of-town group, like Potter's Field, they are asked to have a local musician sponsor them who can guarantee 30 people as the audience. Rochelle and John were sponsored by Rachel Stump.

I called the Rudyard Kipling to see if we needed to make reservations and/or purchase tickets. I was simply told the performance was to begin at 7pm. If we wanted dinner we were to arrive an hour ahead of performance time to eat.  Food would be paid for separately and the musical performance would be paid to the performers. No upfront money required.  We were assured the best table in the house.

Claude and I managed to arrive at 5pm.  This was a less that safe neighborhood.  We pulled into a Rite-Aid Pharmacy parking lot across the street from the Rudyard Kipling. I had reading material so the time could be filled quite nicely. After a brief period, Claude suggested we move the car to the street in front of the Rudyard Kipling. Claude drove us over and parked us on the street. We waited until 6pm.

At 6pm we went around the side of the building and tried to open the door. It was locked. Hmmm... A young man came to the door and opened it just about an inch. He asked us if we were there for something. We told him we were there to have dinner and see the musical performance. He said we were early and they weren't open. I told him their website and the man I spoke with told us if we arrived one hour ahead of the 7pm performance time we could enjoy dinner there. It turns out I was talking to the bar tender who was told to be there at 6pm but knew nothing about dinner that early.  Hmmm... I assured him we were in no rush and if he would tell us what time we should arrive we would come back then. He said we should wait and he would find a key and let us in and we could wait inside.

He came back with a key and it sounded like he was trying to undo a huge chain that was on the inside of the door.  Hmmm...  We went in with another woman who was waiting there for a meeting.  It appeared there was an old home that had this add on built where the little front lawn would have been.  The add on was the bar and music area with a small lobby, kitchen and a bathroom. There was enough seating for 30 people and the bar chairs. We found a table and the bar tender brought us menus to look over while we waited. Claude commented to me that we might be in a very 'bohemian' kind of place.  Ya think???

Then the bar tender brought us water and Claude a soda. He told us the cook had arrived and we could place our order.  It was then we realized there were slight differences in our menus.  We determined we would order a pizza and share it. Then we might have dessert.  This pizza was very good. It had a home made crust made of whole wheat, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, soy beans, wheat germ, bulgar wheat and ground flax seeds. We had home made sausage and pepperoni on our pizza with green peppers and tomato slices. It was delicious.

They were out of bread pudding so Claude passed on dessert but I had a double fudge brownie. Yum.

While we were waiting for our food order, Rochelle and John arrived and began to bring in their instruments and set-up. I spoke to Rochelle and told her we were Jake Christensen's parents. We were the only ones, other than Rachel, who came specifically to see Rochelle and John.

Rachel sang first. She has a powerful voice.  Most of her songs were original and were tortured love songs with lots of chords and strumming. She was good. She finished with her little daughter singing while she played. Very sweet moment and the little daughter was really quite good.

Then it was time for Rochelle and John. They started with one of my two favorite songs from their CD. It was a wonderful evening of music.

There were three little girls there who enjoyed dancing in the aisle. The music was great. I even sang along on the ones I knew.

Claude and I were the only ones in the place with no tattoos. We also were the only ones with no alcholic beverage. It was just a very different evening for us. We had a wonderful time. I think a big 'Thank You' should go to Jake for introducting the Potter's Field to us, to Rachel Stump for bringing them to Louisville and to the Potter's Field for a wonderful performance. How fun to be outside the box for a bit.

Now, most of us know that Rudyard Kipling wrote 'The Jungle Book'.  But he also wrote poetry. One of his poems was in a frame on the wall in the lobby. I place it below because I actually remembered this one and enjoyed it years ago. How nice to come back to it again in this fun context. The name of this poem is 'If'.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!