The
Clown
(by Mildred Scott)
He used to call himself the
clown, a term he meant as "fool"
And once thought himself deserving of
both doubt and ridicule.
At last he realized he’d bought the
"lie" within "believe",
And of self-deception’s burden came
to slowly be relieved.
But that didn’t make him fit into a
world where fools abound…
And I don’t mean the sort of fools
like this man called "the clown".
Odd, he’d chose this word, I thought, based on
an actor friend,
Who’d become a clown -- by choice
as well -- though toward a different end.
This actor joined the circus, studied
clowning as an art,
But what he learned was not what he’d
expected at the start…
The secret to a clown’s success: commitment to
a cause.
Oblivion to words like "can’t"
were what prompted applause:
The clown who’d stop at nothing to
achieve a "hopeless" goal,
Something silly in our eyes that he’d
chase with heart and soul.
Still that didn’t make him fit into a world
where fools abound…
And I don’t mean the sort of fools
like this man called "the clown".
I’d never put together these two stories in my
head
‘Til it all fell into place hearing
words the first man said,
"Life really has no meaning
beyond that which we apply",
A phrase which made it plain at last
who this man was, and why.
Indeed he’s been "the clown", though
he’ll never be a fool,
For
he’s fought against great odds, measured by a higher rule
Than any that the masses recognize
from their own lives,
In which "the road less
traveled" seems too risky and unwise.
Still, that doesn’t make him fit into a world
where fools abound…
And I don’t mean the sort of fools
like this man called "the clown".
Yes, this man, he is the clown; his music tells
me so.
May I one day be so great a clown…
and so much beauty show...
The Point
Bryn Mawr, PA 1/27/01
A highly
anticipated -- and sold-out -- show...
Michael opened with the ethereal Bourbon Blue on piano...
"captured, enraptured by her spirit, her word I couldn't hear it...
but what was I to do, I was feelin' like a fool..."
He then switched
both instruments and mood to perform the edgy Cal-Sag-Road-Song, before
again becoming more reflective on the recent debut, "Grace of
God"...
"there but for the grace of God go
I..."
Michael then
shared a song written in tribute to his father, which illustrates the
growing understanding and appreciation on the part of a son for the
totality of an individual, not merely the role one plays as a
"dad"...
"Ma always told me stories of you,
Of the fountain on the day you met.
Tyrone Power had nothin' on you,
By the way you moved in that Stetson hat..."
This was
followed by yet another new creation. "Ride On, Mighty
River". and the recent single from Last Chance Lounge,
"Junkie Girl". After these came one of my personal
favorites, a track also featured on the album Last Chance Lounge...
"Annie
and the Aztec Cross" tells the moving story of a young woman facing
the darkness of aids, yet filled with the light of a triumphant spirit...
"...her
words flowed just like a river, but her ghost hung like Spanish moss..
I dream of her dancing 'neath the Peruvian moon...rememb'ring...
Annie and the Aztec cross..."
The
latest single, "Unemployed" wrapped up this first guitar phase
of the show, and included all of the energy and humor for which it is
becoming so well-known...
"sometimes I'm a hunter,
sometimes I'm a clown,
sometimes a matador
who's just moved to town..."
Back at the piano, Michael performed one of his newer songs, "Under
the Undertow", a majestic ballad he introduced as the sequel to
"Junkie Girl". This was followed by the almost eerily
evocative, "Murder on Her Lips"..
"she
whispered in my ear without the slightest bit of fear; the words got my
stomach doin' flips...she had love in her eyes...she had blood in her
eyes, and murder on her lips."
Next came the spirited "20 Miles South of Nowhere". One of
the most accurately -- and interestingly -- drawn cast of characters
ever set to music inhabits this track, soon to be featured on the "Knockaround
Guys" film soundtrack.
The McDermott
staple, "A Wall I Must Climb" followed, its telling insights
still fresh and vital several years after its debut...
"Have you ever looked at your face so much
until it became askew?
Because the road that's less traveled is
the one that leads right back to you.
I'm frightened for I fear that my lack of
life is
my crime...
I am a wall I must climb."
After expressing his sincere
thanks to the crowd, Michael announced that his last song for the evening
would be "Getting Off The Dime", an anthem of honesty and hope...
"The seeds
of indecision are constantly in bloom;
we grow the flowers of regret
in an empty, lowlit
room...blowin' through the pages of a burning
book
I found that the beauty was revealed by
design...
come on, babe, we're gettin' off
the dime."
Naturally, after
such a beautiful and rare experience as the entire show had been, the
audience was most unwilling to let the night end. As a result, they
unashamedly solicited an encore, which Michael generously obliged.
My husband won the battle for requests, prompting Michael to favor us with
yet another of his latest -- and arguably most eloquent -- songs,
"Around the World".
Lastly, a request for #49, from
the album 620 West Surf was honored...
"Music plays in the small cafes; they converse
of Marlon Brando in his younger days...
The backroom manager's quoting
off-Broadway plays, because the feelings that
he feels are not real..."
Neither did the feelings of this
wonderful night seem real, except, of course, for the fact that it must
finally conclude. And, after what I can only imagine must have been
an exhausting -- and astonishingly exhaustive -- set, at last the crowd
offered its last round of applause as Michael once more left the
stage.
Unfailingly gracious, Michael
nonetheless obliged a fan's request for photos...
...as did his bass player, T.J...
(my husband, who like me
is a great fan of Michael's music, was also in
both of these shots.. . however, he opted not to be included on this page
as he was having a "bad hair day"... And they say women are
vain!!!)
In any case, it
was a tremendous night for everyone who attended, and we left The Point
elated over what we had experienced and "amazed by what had
transcended through [this evening's] pages of time....
Thank you,
Michael!!!
For more information or to order Michael's music, please visit michael-mcdermott.com
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