It seems to me that every salon takes on a different vibe or personality, that is unique of that one evening, and not to be repeated, inimitable.
Irish American Writers & Artists salon at Slainte Oakland had such an evening in early January.
Having a place to share prose, poetry and music can be a needed balm to ease a heavy heart. All artists expressed the profound sadness of the wildfire devastation that is occurring in Los Angeles County. Even the host wore a tee-shirt of the state symbol, the California bear hugging the state. Yes, California needs a hug.
Yet, there were wry moments of laughter as well. And what’s an Irish American Writers & Artists’ salon without a sing-along.
Neoriffs, a four-piece band comprised of Robert Anderson, Heather Moore-Farley, Marco Falciano and Baldwyn Chieh, started us off with a selection consisting of one original, “I’m Amazed,” and the rest covers, from Tom Cochrane’s “Sinking Like a Sunset” to Shawn Mullins “Light You Up.” A needed light moment had the audience join in singing the Turtles’ “Happy Together.”
Baldwyn Chieh, a member of the Neoriffs, took the mic and shared moving spoken-word pieces of family. Titles: "Not to Rip off Haruki Murakami, and thoughts I have when I'm not running." He began with “Missed Pick-up,” a remembrance that made us feel the sadness of his son being left at school alone, forgotten, but ended in laughter with a running shoe haiku.
Bay Station, a dynamic duo of Deborah Crooks and Kwame Copeland, a salon favorite performed “Synurbic and Starlings & Mockingbirds” two songs from their soon to debut folk-opera “Flight Lesson” and ended with a moving composition of “Fire Songs,” a tribute to a previous California fire. They sang haunting lines that gave chills:
“Fire ran through the attic like a rat chased by a dog
Truck sirens blared a horn through the fog
Of our disbelief at what we saw ‘Run!’ you said
Two stories, ten units, fifty years, lifetimes of history
Gone up in smoke one night on a high desert street
Get up, get up, get up, get up out of bed”
Your diarist and host, seeking to support our Los Angeles neighbors, read a Mary Oliver poem, “In Blackwater Woods,” followed by “Ode to Jean Sweeney,” a hero of a woman, who 20 years ago scaled a fence to an abandoned rail yard in Alameda, Calif., and dreamed of making it a park, and she did.
Amelia Hogan, a Celtic artist and Bay area treasure, who sings in the acapella Sean Nos style held the audience enthralled with a traditional song from 1740, “The Old Church Yard.” She covered a newer song by Julie Fowles, “The Winter Hare.” She concluded with a poignant love song to California “Rolling in the Gold of California,” that we all sang along with. It is her tribute song to California that she wrote in response to the California-bashing she heard.
As the host, I requested that Amelia sing one more song, a IAW&A founder Malachy McCourt tradition. Amelia graciously sang “Wild Mountain Thyme,” and we all joined in.
Malachy’s spirit lives on.
