Fixing a Hole

Today was a first for me in my twenty years of living in Columbus. I got to see the inside of Greenlawn Abbey.



Built in 1927, it was a very ornate final resting place for many of the Columbus' wealthy. Notables here include former city leaders, the brother of J.C. Penney, members of the Swisher Cigar Company and Thurston the Great. Unfortunately, it was neglected for decades as structural damage, a lack of security, funds and revolting vandalism left the building in a state of disrepair.



If you do a search on Greenlawn Abbey, you will see many photographs taken by 'urban explorers' on illicit missions. They did damage to the site also, as did homeless people and crackheads who stole some of the bronze gates for scrap. It is vile, what people did to this building.



It's a miracle that this statue has remained intact. It's inside the Sells Family crypt. Notice the bricked in window that once held a beautiful stained glass window.

The Green Lawn Abbey Preservation Association has been doing a heroic effort in simply trying to keep the building intact. Just fixing the roof has been a costly enterprise. Today was their open house and fundraiser.



I had no idea the only way to the second floor of the building was through the outisde staircase. There is no access inside from the first to the second floor. Was this to keep the wealthier classes, who took up most of the second floor crypts, apart from the commoners on the first floor? Other things I did not know was that most of the 600 crypts in the mausoleum are used, and the last interment was in the year 2000. Finally seeing the inside of Greenlawn Abbey was a thrill, and it was a pleasure to get a guided tour by one of the many dedicated volunteers who are trying to preserve and maintain this sacred, but little known, landmark.

One in the Books

Today is the wedding anniversary of the Scottish Wife and I. Year number one has been completed. It was a beautiful day then, much like today is but about fifteen degrees cooler.

Last night we took advantage of our free room at The Lofts after last year's unfortunate experience. They made up for it. Unfortunately, I've been ill the past couple of days so I pooped out early. I did manage to brave The Burgundy Room, where we had a front row seat for the Zombie Walk.

I hate zombies, and the sight of several hundred people walking up and down High Street dressed as zombies, well - there's not that much difference between last night and a normal night. I guess I'm getting tolerant in my old age.

The room was nice, I paid twenty bucks to upgrade to a regular room with a sitting area, which had a High-Def television and a couch. At about 1:30 this morning this came in handy as the illness and insomnia took hold so I ended up watching Sports Center and lord knows what else until 3AM.

Part of the amenities package we received for our trouble was a bottle of champagne in our suite. The person at the desk asked when we wanted to have it delivered. I was curious what we'd get, would it be the cheap stuff, or something better? When we got back it was there. A bottle of Moet Imperial, what a surprise! After drinking a ridiculously tasty and expensive cocktail at Eleven we could not drink anymore. So it is in the fridge here, waiting to be popped open later.

June is Going to Be Interesting

My son had some pre-testing done yesterday for his Sensory Learning Program and Vision Therapy last night. He's getting used to being in the new space (it was his third time there) although he was a bit restless during the hearing test. He has some tolerance for wearing headphones, but not so much in the doctor's office.

The doctor also wanted to see how he'd react to wearing the yoked prism glasses. I've been working with him a little bit at home with frames, to positive results.

There was no resistance from my son at all when the doctor put them on. He started running around the room while the doctor made observations. He put different types of lenses on him and my son gave no protest, he even seemed eager for the lenses.

At one point, right after he put the glasses on, my son stood there, something was clicking inside him, and said, "I want high five." Which was something he has never, once, asked for. It took us months to get him to give us high fives.

I'm not sure where this therapy program is going to take him, and all of us. That said, if my son was having any negative reaction to wearing the glasses, at all, he would have taken them right off and resisted any further attempts to put them on him.

Starting on Wednesday we take him to the doctor's office for twelve days straight, then weekly. I'm very skeptical about many types of so called 'alternative' therapies, but when you see your child stand there with a new thing on his face and you can feel something flowing through him that never has, or see him walk around a room with an increased sense of awareness of his surroundings - there's something to be said for something that is not the tried and true.

The Grand Slam 5/25/2010

Last night at Writers' Block was the Grand Slam to determine placement on the National Poetry Slam Team.

Poets gathered. There were nervous poets, relaxed poets, all kinds of emotions involving pre-slam jitters.

What stood out as people entered the room at Kafe Kerouac was that there was something different going on. The MC of the night, Joanna Schroeder, was wearing a dress, she did her hair - and was that lipstick?!?



It was great watching people's reactions to seeing her from a distance. The best being when her own cousin did not recognize her. You know you've changed your style when your own kin fails to know who you are!

After a brief and well performed open mic, in which Joel Yeager continues to astonish, it was time for the slam.

I drew the fifth spot out of eight, which put me at ease and went on right after Scott Woods' captain of the slave ship piece.

I have not done After Birth since the Beauty Vs. Brawn fundraiser last year and like them I went off paper. It was the first time I had gone off paper at Kafe Kerouac. I heard some good-natured mumbling about that before I started. It went well. Had to cut a couple of lines because I was worried about time and got the third best score in the round - with Rachel Wiley in first and Scott in second.

Round one said goodbye to Marshall Brown, who has come so far in his work this year. He'll be back.

In round two I did Nobody's Poet, the start of which I cannot memorize for shit, but once I get through the first few lines I've got down. I played on stage with this one. Shifted some tone, used the hands. It is as close to a personal statement poem as I have at this time and I got it across even if the judges were not as impressed as the audience. At the end of the round I dropped to fourth with Rachel, Scott and Ethan Rivera in the top three slots.

We said goodbye to Gina Blaurock after the second round, but never forgotten.

So I'm in fourth, in the final team slot if I hold my position and I end up doing a piece I've only performed once in public. Juan Valdez's Burro Speaks is my version of a persona poem. Unfortunately I use an accent that makes me sound as if I'm doing a bad, bad impression of Cheech. It is a funny poem and I'm not doing an accent on a poem by, say, a matador who just got gored in the mouth by a bull's horn. I'm still working on the voice of that one, and it will never again be the voice I used last night.

At the end of round one Vernell was in seventh, but she used her experience, sideboard and talent to storm up the field and end up passing me and Scott Woods to come in third place overall. Scott came in fourth.

I missed making the team by .1.

Yes, it was that close. Thing is, I would not have been able to go to Nats, so it all worked out for the best.

It was a Hell of a night. Everyone left it out there on stage.

Here's the Writers' Block 2010 National Poetry Slam Team.



It's a diverse quartet of youth and experience that will go far in St. Paul.

Have to make note of J.G., who came in sixth place. I really did not know much about him before he started slamming this year. Whenever he's on the mic he makes me pay attention with his work.

What a great team slam season it was. I'm sure that I'm leaving a lot out, it's not deliberate.

Now it's time to defend my IWPS title.

Somebody Put Something in My Drink

Got to love that temerpance movement.

The Lawn is Mowed for Another Week

Last night America said goodbye to Jack Bauer, on the small screen at least. It was a fitting ending to a season that had more than it's share of outrageous moments. Jack pulling a SIM card out of a Russian assassin's stomach to name but one. Jack exits as he did for several seasons, on the run, like Richard Kimble.



Chloe faded the show to black, "Whatever just happened didn't happen. Shut it down." Now the Russians and his own government are searching for him. Good luck Jack, and thanks for the entertainment.



Poor guy could not even get any properly.

Looks like my Monday viewing will go back to Top Gear reruns.

You Cannibal, You Meat Eater...

It can be a drag when two events you want to attend happen at the same time. I bought two tickets to the Mumford & Sons show before I found out about my friend's barbecue. I would have eaten the $12 tickets but I really wanted to see this band.

You never know what to expect when you see a sold out show by a very hyped group. Will the crowd be a bunch of people there just to talk through the show and be seen? Will the band be road weary and cynical of their own newly found fame? Luckily neither of these were the case and Mumford & Sons met all expectations.

The opening band was an Australian septet called The Middle East. I was thrilled that they were opening because I've heard a couple of their songs and liked what I heard. Onstage they presented themselves rather seriously with their quiet, folksy songs that were more akin to a sit down show rather than the setting of standing on the Mershon stage. I was more impressed by their louder songs, and they could make a glorious noise when they wanted, than the softer tunes.

While waiting for the headliner I was approached by the reviewer for the local paper, whi I used to work with at the bookstore. We swapped opinions and waited for the show to start.

The band came out, opened with Sigh No More and it was off to the races. These guys can play, they can sing. I have not heard such great four part harmonies live since Moxy Fruvous. Yes, it's an odd comparison.



I hope the band does not paint themselves into a corner, but a formula for quite a few of their songs is to start out slow, then go full throttle. While it is exciting to hear, you want a band to show some versatility. They are combating this, during one new song Marcus (the lead singer) went behind the drum kit and showed some chops. This caused the local critic to tell me he did not expect that and had not seen that since he saw Jack White play drums for Goober & the Peas about fifteen years ago. This kind of freaked me out since I was at the show he told me about. So I can now say I've seen Jack White play before he became the White Stripes.

The sold out crowd was really well behaved and respectful to both bands, each of whom made mention of the pleasure of hearing themselves play without loud talking going on. It was my second time seeing a show on the Mershon stage and the sound is excellent. We're getting old though, it's hard to stand for three hours. My wife is not a fan of the group, but she appreciates when a band could play well. She kind of squealed when Marcus played a thin body electric. She likes good gear.

While it was sad to miss the party, seeing this band for $12 is never going to happen again, and I'm very pleased to have made that decision. I even bought a t-shirt, something I have not done since seeing Robyn Hitchcock about eighteen years ago. That's how good Mumford & Sons are. They're selling out their shows, hitting the festivals, and will be playing much bigger venues the next time around.