Dancing and Light Shows Go Together like Garcia and the Grateful Dead
Like a whirling dervish meets Jackson Pollack
I dance blue on a big empty canvas
Through rock and roll, disco and punk
in and out of bumper cars at Paragon Park
Across the floor of the Surf Ballroom
I shuffle the Philly like Mustang Sally
Hula-hoop past my girlfriend Jayn
who’s strolling down a sidewalk
with a be-bop and a hop scotch
We wave to others
as they swing by
I dance my shyness away
my socks off and my hair down
Legato, staccato, jukebox jive
My feet play chopsticks
While my hands high-five
I dance with a smile as big as Billy Preston’s
when he had an afro and played with the Beatles
I dance myself a part in the musical “Hair”
sing the Age of Aquarius on stage
I dance like Houdini throwing confetti
like Annette Funicello in Beach Blanket Bingo
I dance “Where the Wild Things Are”
With a pocketful of posy
and a mind bent towards poetry
I dilly-dally, waltz, and twirl
to a far away corner of the new world
Post Notes: The above lines are excerpts from a longer poem written in 2007 about our Floyd Dance Free. The light show was by Fantasy Lighting and Staging. Look for more on Saturday night’s PFLAG Halloween Costume Fundraiser in The Floyd Press this week. For now, you can watch the above clip of my new favorite local band, Time is Art. They play all originals and manage to incorporate reggae beats and Jerry Garcia psychedelic licks with a Beatlesque flavor, sometimes all in one song. They are Starroot Neumann (keyboard and vocals), Rick Hall (bass guitar), Bill Hairston (rhythm guitar) and Keith Cooley (lead guitar and vocals). Not pictured are Mark Webb (drums) and Adam Pazourek (Percussion).
______Our World Tuesday
October 21st, 2013 12:21 pm
As a wee, younger, hipper Howl, back in art school, one of buds whom I shared studio space with always danced when he painted. Painting and dancing I think are very much the same animal in many ways.
October 21st, 2013 4:38 pm
Looks good; sounds good; and I love the Poem!
October 21st, 2013 7:53 pm
I love this poem and please send me the whole thing….I do not remember it!
They do sound like The Grateful Dead!
October 21st, 2013 8:04 pm
It’s linked up in the highlighted “Dance Free” in the post notes.
October 22nd, 2013 11:11 am
That pretty lights and colors, I am a follower of the Grateful Dead music …! Delicious photos!
October 22nd, 2013 2:22 pm
Grateful Dead is one of my favorite group.
October 22nd, 2013 6:02 pm
ha. you know if feels good just to let loose and dance….and let there not be a care in the world….
October 22nd, 2013 7:44 pm
I wanna dance where the wild things are… that’s my kinda thing…very jealous as I sit here and read this…time to turn the music on me thinks! What fun!
October 22nd, 2013 8:41 pm
This is absolutely fantastic!! Love the interspersed photos! Great feel to the poem! 🙂
October 23rd, 2013 9:42 am
Totally cool. Love the lyrical way you wove in both music and musician and the photos were just the best touch! A tie-dyed sort of write – very cool.
October 25th, 2013 12:09 pm
[…] More pictures of the event HERE. A post on Floyd’s first Pride Parade, hosted by PFLAG is […]