#WhatsHappening for October 23, 2021

Good morning, homies. Hope all is well in your little corner of the world.

Just a reminder, no Saturday Night Karaoke tonight. We'd rather not compete with the city's birthday celebration, as far as parking, traffic, etc.

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#WhatsHappening for October 17, 2021

Good morning, friends. Hope you're all doing well on this crisp, fall morning. Of course, here in Georgia that probably means another month with temps in the 80s are on the way before the end of the year, but I'll enjoy these milder thermometer readings while I can.

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Things are somewhat back to normal, as far as our "operations" go. We're once again doing our regular Saturday Night Karaoke, but with a caveat: For the time being, I'm the only host. That means, among other things, that SNK will skip at least one weekend each month so I'm not working six days a week, every week. I'm hoping, in the future, that this will change, but- if it doesn't- I'm okay with that.

Why the change from pre-plague conditions? Well, Mark (my "number one" in Star Trek: The Next Generation parlance) isn't comfortable returning. And that, my friends, is a 1000% acceptable reason to me for him not working. Compound that discomfort with the fact that he and his lovely lady Leslie lost everything in a house fire just a month ago, and it becomes even more understandable that he might not be in a head space where he's good with coming in and playing nice. At least it does if you're not a complete and heartless fuckwit. If you'd like to help this wonderful couple try to get back on their feet, one of Mark's daughters has set up this Go Fund Me page.

Aside from that, our schedule through (for now) is as follows (subject to change- follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with weekly events):

•  October 30th: The Costumes & Karaoke Party returns! Our 11th edition of the Costumes & Karaoke Party will feature all the utter insanity you'd normally get out of us, along with costumes ranging from the lazy (me) to the inspired (definitely not me), prizes, and more.
• November 6th, 13th, and 20th: Our regularly-scheduled run of Saturday Night Karaoke will run every weekend in November with the exception of Thanksgiving weekend. Historically, that's never been a particularly busy night for us, so what better weekend to take off than one that means I won't have to do a damned thing for four days? I mean, other than root for Georgia Tech to beat Georgia (and, hopefully, a week after they kick the shit out of Notre Dame)?
• December 4th, 11th, and 18th: I mean, come on- the Tavern's closed on Christmas, and I haven't worked on Christmas since my radio days (and I'm perfectly okay with that). 

Now, I'd also like to point out that next week (October 23rd) is up in the air, depending on what's decided in relation to the City of Norcross' birthday celebration- which is is also Saturday. We will update whether or not we'll have karaoke to our Facebook page by Wednesday evening (the 20th).

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Last night after things wrapped up, one of the singers came up to speak to me. That isn't an unusual thing. People will come up and ask me about songs that may or may not be available, our schedule, or just to chat. This singer said "thank you" (that's also not all that unusual, but bear with me).

They said thank you for hosting karaoke, as it allowed them to try to deal with some of their anxiety issues. They have autism, they said, and always had a difficult time interacting with people, but our Saturday Night Karaoke show was proving very helpful in helping them overcome the issues they sometimes encounter in that regard.

Now, I know I project the air of someone who's completely aloof (and, maybe, an asshole)- but at least manages to (mostly) act professional, but I'm not heartless. It made me very happy to know I was helping them, even in some small way.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Everyone is welcome at our shows.

(That welcome is only rescinded when you're a racist, a homophobe, a bigot, a Nazi, or some other variation of shit-heel.)

So I'd like to say "thank you" right back to that person, and invite them to join us again.

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Birthdays today include: Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis (86); Jim Seals of Seals & Croft (80); Gary Puckett of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (79); Fran Cosmo of Boston (65); Alan Jackson (63); Ziggy Marley (53); Wyclef Jean of Fugees (52); Chris Kirkpatrick of N*Sync (50); and Eminem (49). #MusicalBirthdays