scorpiocraft

Well,just about anything you want it to!  Traditionally, it has meant Master of Ceremonies.  But it could just as easily mean master of cunnilingus.  Or Majorly Charged.  Or Micro Chip, who is probably a very small frat boy.  What I usually tell people is that MC means Micro Cabaret.  Like I’m doing a kind of mini cabaret which is centered on my microphone.  MC.  A Male Clown who’s Mainly Clean but Morally Corrupt.  MC Milk Chocolatey.  MC Murder the Competition.  MC Maximum Confluence.  And if you ever find me out about town, shopping for the cheapest products, you’ll know what MC mostly connotes these days:  made in China.  

I was reading a fellow Dreamjournal member’s entries.  Here’s a chap who’s lived a life aswirl in paranormal events involving time and energy.  He feels like an island alienated from the insanity called consensus reality…  I think he sees life through the lens of chaos/order.  Through polarity.  Can we blame him?  When the media seems to be swamped with malicious ‘reality shows’ and manipulated news, there is only an island of self to rely on for the truth.  Who’s alien?  The one who sees this mess for what it is, or is it the culture itself that is ‘alien’?   I was reminded of a phrase I read somewhere.  There are three types of magicians: the magicians of order, the magicians of chaos and the magicians of love.  When all authority seems deliberately obtuse, incompetent, injust and wrongheaded, it’s easy to be disillusioned.  But we still have to deal with it.  But do we really have to attract its nightmares into our own lives?   

I finally debuted a chunk of material from my Bounce International CD, live.  Guess what?  I killed ‘em!  By three songs in, my stage was packed with dancers shaking percussion whatzits.  Later people kept telling me how much fun it was.  “You broke the ice, dude, everyone was up and dancing!”  Mauricio (soundguy) raved.  “You got them all pumped, you should have kept on going.”  Well, if I had known that’s what was going to happen I could have easily sequenced the whole album!  (Normally open mikes give ya 10 mins or so.) The key moment seemed to be putting on my shades.  Go figure.  Performer’s wearing shades, it must be some serious shit!  See, Mauricio has been holding Thursday open mic nights at a Spanish nightclub just down the road from his recording studio.  Nice joint: not too big, not too small and not too smoky!  White Spanish arches over the tables, artwork on the walls, good size stage with a rail, and a cozy dance floor.  Lots of Latinos and Latinas in the crowd of course.  They keep showing up into the night like they don’t have day jobs… At home I had sequenced up three tracks: Kryptika, Bailar and Fleet Amore Lifestyle.  Took me 3 minutes to set up the laptop and hook into a direct in.  That so beats the pants off of setting up “real” equipment!  My band in a box has no personality conflicts, it’s always on time, and it’s real obedient.   Never loses the beat. And I have to say that Solarmagic’s tracks sounded awesome over the big PA.  It’s a huge PA for the size of the room.  When the music sounds great, my life gets so much easier!  The one problem was I asked M to turn down the monitors right at the beginning…. That was before some old cat started banging on the congas next to me, and louder than the monitor mix.  Then another dude jumped on the trap kit.  After a while I couldn’t exactly hear the music and I started losing my place, but hey apparently nobody minded.  Maybe nobody noticed?  I was clearly having a blast, and that’s infectious.  Next time I’ll have to organize the mayhem a little bit more!  (Mauricio thinks my shtick is going to be getting everyone up on stage…)   MC Radiance      www.scorpiocraft.com    Bounce International CD on sale at CDbaby or through my website. 

Fay kicked Florida’s ass but somehow missed Tampa Bay.  Conincidence?  Maybe not, if we are as protected here as the Native Americans believed, they who called this area Safe Harbor because hurricanes seemed to venture elsewhere.  I am glad, however, that we don’t live in Melbourne where folks were sloshing around in 24” rain within 36 hours. 

  But a little weather wasn’t going to deter Wayne, Sam, Donna and myself from venturing out onto the Bay in the middle of this tropical storm. 

  Right out of the channel we were swooping into 6 foot crests!  The Bay is choppier than the Gulf, and even a 22 footer might have gotten in real difficulty.  But we had 31 feet to steady us and a solid motor to use when necessary.  Nobody else was crazy enough to be out on the Bay, testing Fay.  No surprise.  Monkeyman Sam helped throw up the jib (mainsail was proving uncontrollable).  Amazingly he maintained  his bare footing no matter how violently we pitched and yawed.  Years of practice.

  Then we freakin’ hauled ass southward and made record time, barely scraping our mast top on the Gandy bridge.  We picked up W’s friend Carol down on Gandy dock.  She showed up with a flask of vodka. A quick squall hit, so Sam and Wayne got completely drenched, but onboard smokers kept puffing, keeping those cherries lit somehow.  

Rolling and rocking like on a wild bronco,  I realized something early on.  Whether I was going to have a good time or a bad time on this trip was entirely dependent on my own frame of mind.  I could feel queasy and reach for the dramamine, or I could relish the elements and the power of Nature and just go with the intensity.  Like Sam and Donna were doing, drinking wine from sippy cups and getting soaked up near the mast.  Glad I didn’t bring the guitar.  That wouldn’t have been too smart under these conditions!  But warm wind and warm water were welcoming, even when crashing straight into my face. I wound up leading some singalongs and giving the ladies neck rubs. 

The trip mellowed into another gorgeous tropical sunset.  One of the fringe benefits of a sky full of changing storm clouds is that the setting sun catches their underbellies.  Photographs don’t do it justice.  But a pair of rose colored shades are highly recommended.  Very trippy!  And I also had a chance to ogle that 70 foot yacht, Golden Lady, as we reentered the harbor.  It’s a real space age beauty.  I’ve been tracking down the owner so I can perform on it!

MC Radiance     http://www.scorpiocraft.com/