Byrne This Note LIV (the underdog empowering the abused....and other them songs) © 2015

On Tuesday afternoon I went to the coffee shop, Emmanuel’s, “Scott moved the open mic?”

“Where to?”

“I think Cuppers.” Why didn’t Scott tell me? He didn’t tell me because he doesn’t want me to play. He was tired of getting complaints about how much I sucked. And on and on…I beat myself up. Well, I shouldn’t quit. “No you’re not!” I turned the car around in my driveway and headed up to Cuppers. “You know you’ll feel better if you do. You never know where that one is.” That one is the person, who tells their friends about me. Which inevitably leads to me making enough dollars to live off of my creative works.

We all got money. We just gotta’ go find it.

The only thing separating me from my dreams is a bunch of zeroes (6 figure salary). I was so psyched up listening to Twisted Sister’s “The Price.” Went inside Cuppers. He wasn’t there. One of the workers told me, “…two weeks.”

When I get psyched up like that I gotta’ do something. Call it Creative Arousal. So I wrote more on Going Educational.

Back when I first started doing open mics in Clarksdale on Thursdays I’d get liquid courage from drinking enough coffee to kill a small animal. Usually, drink it from Thursday to Sunday. Then I spend Monday through Wednesday detoxing by drinking gallons of water and eating habanero peppers.

At Mingus Mountain they had a Kurig coffee machine. Kurig is the Cadillac of coffee machines. On one Thursday I had three servings. Was charged with a fast wit and a highly creative state of mind. In this state, I am able to think up ideas quickly and apply these ideas quickly. There was a team from San Fransisco. They were there to check out how we served our students. They wanted to make sure it was a good place before they sent a large amount of clients. They came in my room. Were very entertained, “You see stoo-dants, Zues was the head god of the Greeks. He was also known to send lightning from the skies. This is just like how many compare God to electricity…” My lesson impressed them enough to send clients.

The girls in this impatient treatment facility (Mingus Mountain Academy) had been through some things I can’t even fathom. Examples are human trafficking, prostitution, drug abuse, and neglect. Like my assistant, Vance, would say, “Dude these lives were like the worst horror movie ever.” It felt good to be the underdog empowering the abused. There were catch phrases I was using that I didn’t even realize until the girls started quoting me, “You make yourself look bad.”

Unfortunately, my mind was going estray. Was difficult for me to stay organized, enter in grades into the computer, and unassisted supervision. I regret that I left so much on Vance. I was also very home sick. For the grass wasn’t greener on the other side. While I was teaching in Mississippi I was getting paid more, getting more vacation days, and could drive home pretty much when ever I wanted to. Mississippi didn’t, doesn’t, have the beautiful scenery. It only rained five times during the nine months I was in Arizona.

Had a couple interviews with Vicksburg via skype.

I spoke with the principal that hired me in Mingus. Shockingly, she supported my decision to go back.

My supervisor, Vance and the principal filled out online reference forms for me, “Holmes, I made you look like a rock star, dude.”

Returned to the stage at Cuppers.

Started practicing for Los Angeles open mics. Called several. Made my decision on two: Tribal Café, and Cuhuega Grocery.

We all, from time to time, use love songs as our anthems while we play all the scenes through our mind of what it will be like with that guy/gal of our dreams. One of my favorites is Skid Row’s “Wasted Time.”-posted it to facebook. Charles commented on it, “…what a cheese ball.”

The following day was Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. As I do every MLKjr holiday-I posted my personal anthem to Mississippi, “We gotta’ long way to go and a short time to get there.” Check it out here

“Charles…He’s dead.”