- When The Dream Crusher Came Down To Veterans Memorial Park -
A Friday night gig at Veterans Memorial Park in the summer was the gig to get and I had been preparing for months. I had my SignaJam files saved and backed up and formatted. I unplugged my computer and speakers and boxed them for the drive to The Park. Unbeknownst to me, a spider crawled into my computer a few months back and laid eggs on my motherboard. Unbeknownst to the spider, the eggs contained a virus, a virus that he picked up from one of his lady friends in Santa Barbara right before he found comfort in the darkness of a cedar chest that eventually made its way up north to my pad. It wasn't until the lights went down at the Veterans Memorial Park and I was getting ready to fire off my first musical masterpiece with a click of my mouse, that a quick pop could be heard from within the walls of my machine. The screen turned a bright blue. The smell of roasted spiders eggs filled the air. My intranet computer jam sizzled in mere nanoseconds and I knew I was doomed. The crowd waited. I stood frozen and hunched over my keyboard and monitor as if I were anticipating a miracle. I finally freed myself from the restraints of sheer horror and stepped to the microphone and apologized for the technical mishap. I shrugged my shoulders and lumbered off stage, leaving my gear on stage and leaving behind a befuddled crowd.
I awoke at about 10 or 11 the next day and started once again. My chance at creative relevance had been blown, but I was done dwelling on my failure. I decided to head back over to the park in order take in its beauty without the pressure of anticipation or the willingness to make a dream come true. I flopped down with my backpack on the green grass and slept for awhile. I could hear Main Street buzzing above me and to the left. People were talking and wondering, laughing and yelling OK!, walking over there, crossing the street to somewhere in Napa. Ducks were chattering and chuckling below me in the Napa River. I started to float away from all of that and began dreaming of a different place and time. read more