Smoke and Mirrors
A room
filled with
smoke
and
darkness --
Crowded,
yet
somehow
empty…
Emanating
an almost
palpable
space
Between people and themselves…
Reality and illusion,
Escalating emotion and dulling senses.
How ironic it should be here
That truth has come tonight.
How fitting that truth will be ignored
by those beating a stubborn
retreat from the (to them) terrible
beauty of its light.
Suddenly, an artist appears,
So filled with truth it seems
he himself can't stem the power
with which this bursts from him.
His voice is strong --
it's often pain-filled brilliance
spreading a clarity that cuts
through the dank smoke-laden air,
and turns the mirror of human
nature on the witnesses: the criminals
that all who embrace the comfort
of comfortless falsehood
are proved to be.
But the artist has but a moment in which
to share
And he is gone…
Leaving behind truth alone,
Entrusting truth to others,
To be embraced by those who have
gazed into its mirror and begun
to understand
the enduring nature of truth's beauty,
and the smoke of confusion
it is able to dispel.
The Stone Pony
Asbury Park, NJ 11/24/01
An artist prepares...(or rather, pensively paces...)
before taking a seat at the piano to open his set with the always amazing "Wounded"...
"All the pretty horses
dancin' in that
moonlit field...
Me with my gun,
you with your
shield...
I can't recall what,
but I know
somethin' was
concealed
that day..."
...after which Michael switched to guitar, joined by Brian Fitzpatrick, for "the first love song [he] ever wrote"..."Murder In The First Degree"...
"My veins, they roared,
flowed with a venom...
They just seemed so
possessed...
I couldn't believe
the power that was
in 'em
After the damage
was assessed..."
...followed by "Spark", a song about characters fighting to retain hope in the midst of fear and fading dreams....
"The jukebox played
'Your Cheatin'
Heart'...
You can't see the
wounds as well
when you're in the
dark...
"Me, I knew I needed
different company...
These kind of talks
always get to me..."
Though less talkative than on certain other
evenings I've seen Michael perform, he did share a brief tale recounting his
lack of fondness for flying, compounded by arriving in fog on this particular
morning ("Just let me see the ground...just let me see the
ground..."), before launching into the irony-laced
"Unemployed"...
"Mama tells me,
it's gonna be
okay..."
...and an almost frighteningly intense version of "Junkie Girl"..
"What are you
hidin'...
What are you
runnin' from?
Was it the
fear or
was it the doubt...
That got you runnin',
that got you feelin'
numb?"
After this Michael again returned to the piano for the lovely "Around The World"...
"Go ahead and throw
your punches....
I can take whatever
you've got to give..."
...and the haunting revenge tale, "Murder On Her Lips"...
"I held her so
and I could feel
her undertow...
I thought the night
was just
playin' tricks...
She had love in
her eyes,
And murder on
her lips..."
...before closing out his set on guitar, joined by Brian once again for the McDermott classic, "A Wall I Must Climb"...
"Time was
movin' so
fast,
I couldn't
comprehend
it...
I was first;
maybe I
was last...
Confusion
had descended..."
And, indeed, time had seemed to move so fast that (like all Michael McDermott
shows), the conclusion had descended far too swiftly, and Michael moved on to
greeting new fans and old friends...
...on which note I've gotta ask...based on Michael's expression in this shot, is it my imagination or do you bet this guy's talking about flying?!?
In any case, you can bet I'm thinking about flying -- TIME flying that is...until Michael's next East Coast visit....
As always, thank you Michael,
and, of course,
Please Come Back Soon!