Busy as a Bartender
November has been a big month for me so here’s a quick summary:
My gig at The Ellington with Mint Jazz Band was a success. Around 75 people came to the gig despite stormy weather and many congratulated us on our performance. Our double bassist Malcolm Mah’s creative intros and endings really gave our renditions of familiar classics that little something extra. For instance, our version of “Autumn Leaves” now begins and ends with what sounds like a horror soundtrack. I told a few humorous tales during the show and overall the concert was everything I wanted it to be.
UWA’s School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine where I work full-time has invited me to publish articles on their website each month. Sentinel chickens is the topic of my first article for that series. I will also be working on the School’s monthly bulletin. In addition, an article I wrote about the New Approaches to Teaching (NATT) team of which I am a part will be published in MeDeFacts later this year.
The Disappearing offered to publish another poem of mine (a sonnet). You can download their app for free on your iPad, iPhone, or other android device. They published a poem of mine about an endangered native snail earlier this year. I also organised for another local poet, Robert Wood, to take over the guest bookings for Perth Poetry Club next year.
Drum Perth continues to publish my CD and live gig reviews (just check out the Freelance Journalist section of this website). The Matchbox Twenty concert with special guests INXS at the new Perth Arena was definitely a concert to remember. This month I was also lucky to experience an excellent theatre production (GRADS production of David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly”) and a formidable show by The Glen Miller Orchestra. Little y Theatre’s misguided production of David Mamet’s “Glen Glengarry Ross” which showed a lack of understanding of the play’s focus on masculinity, age, and class, was the only theatrical misstep of the month.
Believe it or not, I participated in a fashion show competition where I was given a theme (“spring racing”), $300, and an hour to shop! Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I did not win but I had a great time and got to keep the clothes.
Favourite Book this Month: William Maxwell’s novel “So Long, See You Tomorrow.” The memoir-style story of a man reflecting on his boyhood in Illinois after the death of his mother is both moving and memorable. The story focuses on the dissolution of two friendships and the murder of a local farmer.
Tomorrow night I will join Mint Jazz Band in performing at The Wild Fig in Scarborough. We have been booked to play there every Friday until the end of the year. We will be adding some new songs to our shows, particularly the requests we have received so far.
Who knows what I will have to share with you in the next update?!
Jake Dennis 