I’m the one that has to die when it’s time for me to die,
so let me live my life, the way I want to.
- Jimi Hendrix
I went to a bar
alone, on a Wednesday night, mainly because I really needed the alone time. At
that particular point in life I was really not feeling anything and became
despondent towards a lot of people and situations, I basically just wanted to
quit everything and disappear. Everyone feels like that every now and then. One
of my main things that I went to the particular bar that I went to was because I
know I had about a 90% chance of seeing someone I knew at the regular bars that
I frequently visited around here. So I decided to switch the whole game up and
go to a bar that can be described as being white. Now I've never been to this
bar so I didn't really know to expect. Was there going to be an uncomfortable
vibe because I'm black, are they racist, was it going to be weird and not like a
regular bar scene. Thankfully none of those were the case when I went inside.
When I walked in someone actually remarked, "look it's a black guy, this is
going to be a great night, they know how to have fun!", you know how drunk
people get lol.
As I was in there at the bar talking to the bartender, seeing as how it was still early for people to be in there, he told me tonight was karaoke night. So as I am looking for the karaoke machine he replies, "oh we don't do the machine, we have a live band", immediately my interest is peaked at this. I've never heard a live band playing for karaoke night. I asked if that band was that good to be able to play any kind of song and come to find out they were a tribute band that goes around playing hits for parties and other events. So I'm sitting there like this is going to be really cool. I see the band setting up, and I see that they actually have multiple guitars on the stage, which was a clear indication that the guitarist actually knew what the hell they were doing.
So around 11:30
the place has a fair amount of people and they are all in there drinking and
laughing, meanwhile I'm still at the bar in the corner drinking and chit
chatting with some people that made their way over to me. They said usually the
band comes in and has hopes of playing but people are usually too nervous to get
up there, so they end up playing around three or four songs the whole night.
That was quite disheartening to hear because I really thought the concept was a
cool one. Then one of the guys asked me did I know any rock songs, and I told
him a few but not a lot. He then suggested that I go up there and try my luck, I
told him I didn't know and felt a little comfortable seeing as how I was the
only black person in there, he told me it wasn't that kind of place and that it
would be cool to see.
Now usually I
don't let people yank my chain like that because the situation seems a little
iffy to me, but on the same page I'm that type of person that if people ask for
volunteers and everyone is too nervous to speak up, I jump and do it. So as I'm
sitting there, this one drunk girl gets up there and does the funniest rendition
of Gwen Stefani's Holla Back Girl. The band looked kind of like,
"yea we don't really want to play this song", but just like I thought,
there were no more volunteers after that. Then the white guy just yells out,
"this guy wants to try his luck!", putting me on the spot lol. I'm not a
punk by any means so I took the rest of my drink to the head and made my way to
the stage. The lead guitarist tells me they know a few rap songs and that it
might be a little hard for them to play them. I told them I'm not here for rap
tonight and told them I wanted to start with Incubus' Warning.
They looked a little shock and surprised, they asked am I sure, I told them to
back me up as best they could.
Now this is a song
that I play all the time when I'm at home and I'm writing blogs, so I know all
of the cues and all the breakdowns in the song. So as I'm going on and I'm
feeling the song I just kind of close my eyes and drift off with the vibe. When
the last chord was struck I looked up and and I saw everyone just sitting there
staring at me, I didn't know if I messed it up or what, but then a guy just
yelled out, "that shit was awesome!", then people started clapping. And
someone yelled out "do another one!", and everyone started saying yea,
and I looked back at the band and they were all smiles with the drummer saying
"I did not see that coming at all, what else do you have in you"?
At this point I
really can't believe what's going on because I've never been in this kind of
situation before in my life. I mean I know I can't sing or anything, but I guess
with the way I was feeling, the liquor and just my knowledge of the song, it all
came together. So I told them let's do The Killer's Mr. Brightside,
which happened to be one of the other guitarist favorite songs. He backed
me up on that song pretty heavy because I forgot a couple of spots here and
there. At this point everyone is up and they're feeling me feel the songs, and
they're just dancing. So after that I told them let's just go right ahead and
into Blink-182's Stay Together For The Kids. Man that was my
favorite part of the night when they kicked in and started singing Tom's part,
and the drummer killed his part. I just love that song man, it hits home all too
well.
But the last two
songs that I did was Boston's More Than A Feeling & Imagine
Dragons' It's My Time. Both great songs man, I didn't realize that I
knew so many of the lyrics to those songs. With More Than A Feeling, it was more
so about the band just getting down and the people in the bar just clapping and
getting behind them. It sounded just like the song when I hear it. Then with
It's My Time, I just got a little emotional. If you watch the video to Demon's
and you see the end of the video with the dedication. I was just thinking at the
time how life was good for me and that what I was going through was nothing
compared to what someone else was going through.
I always find it
funny when I hear people say to me when I'm listening to a Rock song, "how do
you know that song"? I think good music knows no genre or boundaries. All
genres has some bad selections but for the most part the truly great songs will
get through and you will feel them. I personally like Rock because of the live
instruments and what not. That's why I like a group like The Roots because
that's who they are. But as for Rock, it's always been the type of music I
listen to for certain purposes, just like when I listen to Rap / Hip-Hop, R&B
and certain pop songs. So to come out and just sing my heart out at a time when
I was going through it, it allowed me to get a lot off my chest. It was the
equivalent to talking to someone and just letting it all out, but without
actually having to say it.
So for being one
of the greatest moments in life, that night was the night I came back into who I
am as a person, as a man, I came back into Devon. The guy who can do anything,
knows he can do anything, and will eventually do the things that he wants. I
implore people to take more chances, more risks, step outside the box more,
because you never know when things like this will happen.
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