04/25/2018
I present to you May's "Busker's Junquet" called "Country Sunshine" straight from the script just for you. Thanks for the help Cindy.
C.J.:
And now a word from our Sponsor Top Hat Construct.
Dustin:
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From the Morgan Ridge Brewery right here in little 'ole Salisbury North Carolina Top Hat brings you "Busker's Junquet, "Country Sunshine"
Busker's Junquet
SOUND:
C.J.
It's Spring and the month of May means Joy, Sunshine, the return of life after a long cold winter. That is a perfect description of my mother. She is more than just a woman, she is a force of nature, beautiful, vivacious, wise.
I learned everything from her, how to play music, how to trust, how to be a good person. Oh, she loved music. Our home was full of it. Not much else, mind you, but music and love, well those were abundant in the Casa De Busker.
One of my earliest memories of her is about a Lowery pump organ. I say a, but really, it was the Lowery pump organ, a thing that became as central to our lives as corn bread and cats.
I remember that day, my mind racing with one thought.
Mom's got a gig!
She told my brother and I the night before to be home after school. I could hardly wait til the school bell rang and then launched myself out the door to be able to finally touch the sacred thing, the machine that brought music into our house with a vengeance. We had to load it on the carriage for the first time. I remember thinking it should have been heavier, as full of emotion as I thought it must be. That is when I learned that hopes and dreams are only heavy on the heart. She was playing the Copper Mine Lounge, a local club for the regular folks! A humble start, but a start none the less.
This new organ was top of the line and now had to pay for itself, as well as the old carriage, and the horse she bought to haul it around. My mother's stage name was "Country Sunshine". Tall, blonde, high heeled, She wore sequened dresses, and I swear she seemed to radiate light!
Love is not the correct word for what I feel for my mother. She is my confident, my best friend, my role model. Nothing was impossible to this Woman. She saw what she wanted to do then just worked for it and anything she set her mind to, she did. "Life is for the Living" she'd say "Now go out and Live!" I'd say.
Under her direction my brother and I tipped the sides of the Organ up slipped the dollies under. It was exciting work, adventurous even. One slip of the hands and there could be disaster. But her voice brought me confidence and strength. We rolled it right outside and slipped it onto the carriage. The whole effort took about three minutes. Excitement in her voice "Only 5 minutes to load and unload??" Always calculating the time so she wasn't late. Always adding those extra minutes, just in case...
"O.K. My Sons. We'll drop this off then I'll come back, put on my make up, and go do the show." Her voice sounded winded, as if she had willed us the fortitude to hoist the magical contrivance into it's seat of glory.
My mother never used alcohol or drugs, she depended totally on the natural high of her interactions with the audience. We would stay up late to wait for her to come home, breeze through the door like a high gale, toss her wrap on the table and just glow. She'd pull us into her arms and regal us with stories of foot lights and standing ovations and then we'd all have a slice of pie before crashing into our beds from the lofty heights of that Olympus of the stage.
She'd get lost in the stories, and more so in the songs, singing and playing a song better than she ever had before, connecting with the deepest parts of her listeners, these moments of blissful perfection she experienced while performing drove her deeper into music for most of her life.
Mother was always ravishing when she performed. She'd always come out "dressed to the nines" as she'd say, to get the opinion of us boys. She made her own clothes so they were always spectacular! Yes, she was a Seamstress as well. She was also one for the good turn of a phrase. My childhood was guided by sayings like. "A stitch in time saves nine" or my favorite. "Open doors are for going through". Don't be afraid to jump at your chances.
She came home from the show very late that first night, woke us boys up, we got dressed and slipped the new Lowery into it's birth. It looked like so immaculate there, a prophet offering wisdom and sustenance. I swear for a moment it felt like it was actually looking at me, giving me a beautiful melody to dance to all my life. We repeated this routine a thousand times more over the years even after the organ paid for itself. It became part of the family, that organ. She of course would always be singing about what a good time they all had, how happy everyone was to hear her, and what songs she was going to learn for next week's gig.
She inspires me even until this day, this moment. I always wanted to learn more, play more, be more because of her. I have one regret. I wish I'd played more with her. Her teaching about seizing the moment has given me many opportunities i might have missed. She'd always say, "We don't regret what we do, we regret what we don't do." The door into her world of music was always open. It was Utopia for me, a world full of mystery, beautiful joy, adventure. It was just for me to walk through the door and knowledge would be disseminated.
These days, she's mostly blind, only one hand works now but it's always reaching for chords in the air. Her voice is always filled with songs from our past. Singing into the air as she travels from room to room on her walker and trailing an oxygen line. She's still performing, She is still "Country Sunshine" her white hair dyed purple, lifting spirits, She's entertaining the masses as she always has. This is the magic of my life, this woman and her gift, her fairy nature, to this day she is gossamer and sunlight, joy and life. To this day she is still trying to connect to her audience, trying to impart some musical wisdom, leaving something behind for her Musician Son.
"Open doors are for going through." It's so true. As I follow my talents and work hard toward their ends it seems as though I don't even have to knock sometimes, just walk right in. And thank all of you for letting me into your homes.
Oh Salisbury, Your children will grow to be blessings upon the face of the earth.
SOUND: everyone quietly talking to themselves in the mic. Guitar music in the back ground until second stanza. actors fade in and out of each other in this order. 15 seconds each.
CINDY:
(reading a passage from her book very low in the mic)
Shane:
(reading poetry very low in the mic)
Dustin:
(Slowly reciting a favorite passage low in the mic)
KENT:
(Reading the news of the day low in the mic)
C.J.
"Mother" 3/4 time CAPO III
Am C E
65's not enough time.
A m C E
And 75 may sound pretty high!
Am C G
Oh 85 let me teach you somethin' here,
Am C G
Well there ain't ever enough of those years
Am C G
95 let's say a hundred or more,
Am C G
There's never enough this I'm sure.
A m C E
So throw away all of your pride
Am C E
Go and you hug her with all of your life
Am C G
You might not get this chance ever again,
Am C G
Time ticks away so fast my friend.
C C
Mother Momma
F C G
The children that you make well they are beautiful.
F C G
The songs that we sing, oh unforgettable!
F C G
The places that we go are more remarkable.
C C
Mother Momma
Am C E
When she's gone all your friends wills say:
Am C E
She had so many prescious days.
Am C G
It's little comfort to hear that she had a long stay
Am C G
When Mother's shouldn't be taken away
Am C G
I'd change this law if I could.
Am C G
The one law of God's that should
Am C E
So throw away all of your pride
Am C E
Go and you hug her with all of your life
Am C G
You might not get this chance ever again,
Am C G
Life comes at you so fast my friend.
A m C E
So throw away all of your pride
Am C E
Go and you hug her with all of your life
C C
Mother, Momma
F C G
Singin' "Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and George Jones
F C G
And box Car Willie, and Loretta Lynn,I remember well!
F C G
To dream with you is to sing with you even when you are in the clouds.
C C
Mother Momma
C C
Mother Momma
C.J.
Thank you everybody! Mother will love to hear the applause.
