Thursday, September 29, 2005

 

Gift

Another cool open mic at Dunn Bros. last night. My favorite part of the night is quickly becoming after 9:30pm, when TSA and I finally take the stage, some of the crowd lingering as Dunn Bros. employees clean up around them. I suppose it goes back to the 957 days when, as much as anything, we wanted to annoy people. Well, we didn't want to annoy people, it just sort of turned out that way. Anyway, I always get the feeling that we're annoying the Dunn Bros. employees, keeping them there longer than they want until Josh or one of the other employees stops what they're doing and just watches us for a while. I know that musically we'll never be able to grab a whole bunch of people, but I've always found great satisfaction in reaching one person at a time. Probably not the most efficient way of doing things as a musician, or even a "musician," but reahing people is ultimately the goal - after having a good time yourself, of course.

Last night's open mic was blessed by the pressece of Tony DuBois. If you live in Rapid City (or western South Dakota, for that matter) and you haven't seen Tony, do yourself a favor, get out and see him. The first time I saw Tony he was playing alto sax, to a certain degree I think Andy and I were just being nice when we asked him to play with us. Tony is blind and autistic, but Tony was given a musical gift and I thank him and his mother for working to share it with other people. He's probably the most amazing musician I've ever seen, knowing an absolutely staggering number of tunes. That would be fine, that would simply indicate an amazing memory, but I've seen Tony improvise. His abilities in the jazz are something to be seen. I improvise poorly and work damn hard at it. Tony imporvises effortlessly and it's absolutely amazing.

Mike and Jon Clark got to play with Tony last night. I hope it has the same effect on them that it did on me. For me it was a very humbling experience. I like my brain, I'm proud of it, I think it can get me through anything that I get myself into. Basically, my brain works pretty much the way God intended it to and everything seems to be hooked up right. When I run into people who aren't as intelligent as me, I tend to put them down or think less of them. I feel superior. You can be stronger or faster or better looking than me and I could give less than a damn, as long as I'm smarter, I'm superior. I don't feel superior to Tony at all. He has a type of talent I'll never have. I could practice 20 hours a day and I'd never develope what he has musically. And he just has it. I'm not saying he hasn't worked on his craft, I'm sure he has, he's obviously listened to a lot of music, he's obviously played a lot of music, but he was given something that I will never have. Humbling and a pleasure to see or be a part of. Check your local listings for his shows (I wish I had them in front of me) but you can also catch him at Borders open mic on Saturday night (where you could also pick up a copy of the book him mom wrote about Tony) and Sunday night at Cheers where I'll definitely be this week.

BOJ

Comments:
Tony was at Cheers Sunday night and did some jazz. He really is incredible and should be an inspiration to those of us who supposedly do not have any disabilities.
 
We're all disabled. We're all gifted. Some of us just in more obvious, pleasant, unpleasant or hidden ways. Tony is truly gifted and an absolutely amazing performer, anyone in the Rapid City area who doesn't get out of the house and see him this week is missing a real musical treat! I feel privileged to have been in the room with him (and some other very talented musicians!)last Sunday night!
 
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