Sunday, March 20, 2011

Still Thinking of You...the Unsolved Mystery

Those that follow me on Twitter or have "Friended" me on Facebook, may be aware that on Friday I came home to a rose on my doorstep.



This is probably a totally normal event for most you, or at least an event that has happened to you before. Not me. Except for when my dad forgot my birthday and sent the obligatory "Oh Shit" flowers, I cannot recall ever being sent flowers. That being said, it was completely anonymous. So, if the sender is reading. Thank you. You have no idea how cool that was for me. I was already on a post-gig high from playing an incredible 4 hour set with So Much Closer at the Brewhouse, and then I get a rose. Inced my cake indeed.

Of course, I have a curious mind, so I have used some deductive reasoning to narrow down suspects, but ultimately all I have are theories.

My first concern was was it intended for me, I mean I do have a roommate, and it wouldn't be the first time I received a neighbors mail. Well, unless there is another Eric in the house, I think it was for me, and they obviously know my address, which isn't really very hard to find on-line, so this has not helped me to narrow things down at all.



Now, I do not know Dierberg's delivery policy, but I couldn't imagine them rolling a van for a single non-vase rose, so who ever it is is close enough to do a drive by.

It would appear to be someone that I know but haven't talked to in a while. And for the doubters, a girl. No boy writes like this, unless my roommate planted it and purposefully girlied up the handwriting in some weird attempt to boost my self-esteem. Maybe since there has recently been a role reversal, he is WGF (with girl-friend) and I am SGF (sans girl-friend), he thought I needed a pick-me-up. Previous to his WGF status I would have never thought him capable of doing something of this nature, but I saw him turn into Betty Crocker over Valentines Day, so it is not outside of the realm of possibilities.



The reason I think I haven't talked this person in a while is the use of "Still." I am actually pretty friendly with most of my ex's, so we talk (sometimes) daily, weekly, definitely monthly. I'll see them at shows or other functions. If it were one of them, I would expect them to just put "Thinking of you" as opposed to "Still thinking of you!" There are a few that I have lost contact with, so they have just moved up in the rankings.

The next clue could be a completely random occurrence or could be indicative of someone that really knows me. This card was also attached to it:



Roses are without a doubt my favorite flower. So the person either got really lucky, or we have had enough discussions that this random tidbit of information came up, and they remembered it. Because I don't want to read too much into it and the fact that the rose is a fairly common place instrument used when showing interest, we'll say it was a random occurrence, which still leaves me with an open list of potential candidates, and an unsolved mystery.

Besides being just an incredibly cool gesture (albeit somewhat stalkeresque and creepy) it also made me do a little writing. The concept of "still thinking of someone" hit home sending some random flourishes of thought into my frontal lobe, so I released them here for you. It gets kind of racy, so you are warned.

I Still Think of You

You
Whose energy ignited social sparks and summer skin
Like solar flares exposing a fragile atmosphere

You
Whose genius and creativity caused curious moments
Like humming baroque movement melody on first date

You
Whose sunshine smile and intoxicated laughter released daydream-desires
Like pre-teen magazine-moments as he dreamt of what it would be like

You
Whose youthful kisses are still seared on wanting lips
Like Sigma stains shoulders of black brothers

You
Whose intelligence was only usurped by insatiable passion
Like mammalian brain absent Leptin leads to death by gluttony

You
Whose full breasts found my fingers kneading them
Like my thickening self needed to feel your warmth

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Anointed by Soul and Spirit

As I was driving home last night, planning this post as mile markers disappeared into darkness and headlights provided my path for safe travels, I couldn't determine when I actually started to like dance. I know I was really into break dancing. My floor work was mediocre at best, but my popping was pretty good. Still I am sure it was before that, those Sunday morning cleaning sessions with Mom and Dona Summers or Al Jarreau or Lionel Richie or some other R&B artist improving the chores. Inevitably there would be a dance moment, a moment when mom took my embarrassed hand and taught me to shimmy or jive or twist. Dance is another one of those taboo interests that are not taboo to me because I was raised by my mom.

Of course, there was my senior year of High-School when I participated in the G.A.T.E. program, which was focused on making the performing artists multi-disciplined, Singers danced, Actors sang, Dancers acted, etc. There were also some high-school musicals when I dated my first dancer...ah, Cecilia, but I think my passion for it happened in college. Lindenwood had a really great Dance program. While I was in school I took every opportunity I could to learn and grow. While others were passing out drunk under trees, I was at dance concerts, art shows, and theater performances. This is also how I met my ex-wife. She was an amazing dancer, moved with passion and power. She spoke through movement, and I had open ears. During our relationship I learned a lot about the history of dance and dance companies. Her favorite was Alvin Ailey for every time she mentioned another company like Pilabolous, she mentioned Alvin Ailey 15 times. Though we have now been divorced longer than we were married, my passion for Dance has never wavered. For the last 3 years I have had season tickets to the Dance St. Louis presentations and am completely addicted to So You Think You Can Dance.

I got to see the Alvin Ailey Dance American Dance Theater for the first time a few years ago and finally understood why Angela was so enamoured with the company. Dance St. Louis brought them back this year, and I was fortunate to have front row seats for yesterday's matinee. The piece that affected me the most was "Anointed" which was Choreographed by ex-Ailey dance Christopher Huggins.

Anointed from AlvinAileyAmericanDanceTheater on Vimeo.



While I do not have the words to adequately explain this piece, I will speak through the language I know best, poetry.

Anointed

They
Bestow blessings
Control movements
Evoke emotions through limbs and lungs
You
Fly effortless
Absent wings
Extension resolved into contraction as you engulf him
He
True David
Breathes life through arms and fingers
Saves you from gravity as bodies become one
I
Feel God
Experience Grace
Leave anointed by soul and spirit

I couldn't find an image of the exact moment I am talking about, and it was not in the preview, but here are some shots from the dance that I liked.







If you have never been to a professional dance concert, I encourage you to seek one out and experience a silent emotion that has the power to change lives.