The B-Side

Last night, I had the best time I have had in a minute. I stumbled on to a spot called the B-Side Lounge in Cleveland Heights' Coventry Neighborhood. While I have attended a number of open-mike events, often I have left with the feeling that it started off good and went down hill. Doesn't matter what city--whether in NYC, ATL or DC, the night would turn into a to showcase for every wanna be rapper and "the wack posse". Fools on a mission to impress us with weak verbal skill and lack of a story line. Last st night, however, I was blessed with a great band, some very talented poets, and a few quite decent MC's (noticed I did not use the word "rapper") And in pure "un-Cleveland" style...the DJ only played "Pistol Grip pump" and not the rest of the Cleveland five--"Telephone Love", "Don Dada", "Black Superman", and "Black Cop" (yeah, homies in that order). And By the looks of the DJ's tortured face, he played that one song to get the birds in the audience to stop their damn squaking.


I got home at 1:00AM and after reading some of the the diatribe of the day , got to bed around 2 AM. I was hype off the idea that I could have a great time and only spend $3 to get in, and 2 brothers bought me a drink without making me feel like they had just bought a concubine for the night.

I woke up next morning with the "wow was that a dream?" feeling and big kool-aid ass smile my face (thought my head hurt a bit and I could used another hour or so of sleep.) I managed to get up on time, without being my normally grumpy AM self. I had a nice little shower while listening Tom Joyner. Mom made me breakfast (Hands down, the best thing about being home...I don't have to feed myself) And to top off a fantabulous start, I managed to remember everything--the phones, the wallet, the electronic badge, and the gate opener. As I drove down the road with the sunshining and Gnarls playing on the radio...



.... I blew my front tire...Forgot, to turn the headlights off...Had to get a jump...Forgot my lunch...was 30 minutes late to work.