All good things must come to an end. We had
a block full of boys for the whole summer. Yesterday the
largest block of those boys moved back to Georgia, including
my son Andrew's best friend. It was not an easy leaving.
I wonder if we made any impact on them. All that time. All
those teaching moments. All the modeling.
I know my father used to talk about that as
a teacher all the time. He loved the classroom and the connection
with the kids, but he said that you never know which kids
will take the experience and really allow it to transform
how they live. I remember him telling me about one of his
students who stopped in to see him a few years before he
retired from teaching (after 36 years). This student had
had him for 6th grade in Schoharie Central. It was at least
10 years afterward that they stopped to visit. They said
that he had been the most instrumental person in their lives
in helping them to decide to become a teacher. My Dad was
really moved by that visit. It was one of the few instances
in his career where someone actually came back and said,
"You know, you made a difference."
I don't expect that we will see these three
boys again. We will be for them a lovely, transcendent memory,
bathed in a Colorado blue sky, that they will talk about
when they are 40 years old over beers on some sweltering
day in Memphis, or Atlanta while their kids scream with
laughter in the background, running under a cold hose spray.
It will be the summer when they worked all day long in the
hot Colorado sun, digging bear dens in piles of gravel,
filling up wheelbarrows, saving baby birds, bombing hornets
with chunks of clay, learning how to play baseball, and
wondering why their parents thought they were poor. . .
They will wonder if we still live here in our giant house
(1000 square feet), with our giant back yard (30 years deep).
They will wonder if the retaining wall that they helped
build still survives, looming as large as the Great Wall
of China, holding back Josh's yard from collapsing into.
. . what was that guy's name again? Las Vegas or something
like that. Somewhere one of them will have a picture of
5 little boys sitting in front of that wall with a large
gawky, gentle man that they will barely remember.
Maybe, it is less about changing them than
I thought. Maybe it is just about being as perfectly present
as you can be in this moment of bliss and terror. Here,
where our world rolls around in a cosmos none of us can
really understand, and you forget that you will grow old
and die someday, and all you can see is your hands, cracked
on a keyboard in the early morning light through eyes blurry
with a loss you cannot believe that you feel so acutely.
Digs on Gigs.
Every Thurs. Night starting Aug. 30th.
Olive Branch 23 S. Tejon 6- 9pm I'll be doing a night of
all original and/or traditional tunes. I will be bringing
in some guests from time to time, but for the months of
Sept and October I will be there every Thurs. night. Mark
Meltzer, the owner of the Olive Branch, was kind enough
to offer me this opportunity. Guaranteed funny, sad, powerful
and winsome. Reservations can be made by calling the Olive
Branch at 475-1199.
Special Guest at the Olive Branch on Thurs.
Oct. 4th is Sarah Hope
Fri. Oct. 5th Portland, Oregon. St.
Clare Catholic Church 8535 SW 19th Porland, Ore Reservations
suggested, contact Jim Galluzzo at 503-241-1751 or email
him at diversityasgift@comcast.net.
Time 7-9pm Tax deductible donations made out to Diversity
as Gift This concert will benefit the work of my incredible
friend Jim Galluzzo who I met while in the seminary at Catholic
University. The list of charitable work he is doing is as
long as my arm but it includes a scholarship program for
low income students, a Gang Academy, Food Programs for the
Poor, AIDS ministry, an Iraqi orphanage, and workshops of
all kind aimed at ending oppression. It is an honor to be
part of this evening. If you cannot attend the show, please
consider a donation made out to Diversity as Gift. Mail
to 1314 NW Irving #512 Portland, Oregon 97209
Sat. Oct 13 Co. Springs A benefit for
the Alano House to be held at the Gill Foundation downtown
C.S. I play from 4-5:30pm. Dinner and silent auction. The
Alano House is a local organization doing incredible work
with folks with addiction. They have a unique niche because
they are entirely privately funded, all of their programs
are local and self sustaining, and they work with folks
with addictions in conjunction with their families which
is from what I understand, quite a rare thing. Contact lizamalone@msn.com
for more information.
Sun. Oct 21st Colorado Springs High
Plains U.U. Church 10 Am service. High Plains has moved
into their new location. They have renovated the structure
that used to be the Mountasia Family Fun Center at 1825
Dominion Way, just off Academy behind the bright orange
3 Margaritas. If you live on the north end of town and are
looking for a remarkable community with U.U. roots this
is a wonderful place.
Friday Oct. 26. Black Forest, CO. I
will headline the Black Rose Acoustic Music Society's Friday
night event playing with Charlie Hall. I'm really looking
forward to this since Black Rose has become a regional fixture
on the acoustic music scene. Corner of Black Forest and
Shoup Rd. in Black Forest, Colorado.
Sat. Oct. 27th and Sun. Oct. 28th Monarch
Ski Lodge, near Salida, CO I've been invited to open up
the Monarch Lodge's winter season with an interesting pair
of events. I will play in the bar/restaurant on Sat. evening
from 6-10 pm doing my funky blend of original and cover
material. Then on Sunday morning, I will do an early morning
musical/spiritual show again in the restaurant area starting
around 7am. Lori Voss is the new manager/owner of the restaurant
down there and she has graciously invited me to come down.
If you'd like to book the night at Monarch just mention
my name and ask if there is a special discount. They told
me there was, but didn't tell me what it was. If you get
in touch with your inner third world barterer you will,
I'm certain, get a good rate. (Ask for Theresa.) Who knows.
Maybe there will be snow by then!
To quote my daughter. "Love, Love. .
. . Tchia" Joe U
Uveges News Archives:
July, 2008 Uveges News
"Swimmer's Ear, The RUB, etc. "
June, 2008 Uveges News
"THE RUB, plus the updated summer Schedule,
N.Mexico, Spokane, Missoula Penrose"
May, 2008 Uveges News
"Summer Schedule, Touring and 'Driving' Now Available"
March/April, 2008 Uveges News
"Karl Marx Lesson, Colorado Springs
and Denver shows, N.East tour"
January, 2008 Uveges News
"Portland OR, HPUUC, Soul Link, and NASCAR"
October, 2007 Uveges News
"When Freedom Calls CD Release Concert "
September, 2007 Uveges News
"The End of Summer . . .Portland,
Black Forest, Monarch"
August, 2007 Uveges News
"Working Boys (Cont),
Aug./ Sept shows, Olive Branch Returns every Thurs"
July, 2007 Uveges News
"On summer projects, boys, and schedule"
June, 2007 Uveges News
"Ducks in trees, the Philharmonic, and schedule for june, july"
(click here)
April/May, 2007 Uveges News
Late April, Early May shows
and the story of the "Stinking Ant Eater"
(click here)
March, 2007 Uveges News
This weekend in C.Springs, and New Hampshire end of March
(click here)
February, 2007 Uveges News
Soul Link with S. Rissman, N. Hampshire etc.
(click here)
November, 2006
Pre-marital Sex, Tours and End of Year Shows
(click here)
September, 2006
CABOOM!!!
(click here)
August, 2006
August 06 Co.Springs, Creede, Trinidad
(Click here)
July, 2006
On Maggot Farming and the summertime schedule
(Click here)
June, 2006
Summer Musings and Schedule Through Late August
(Click here)
April, 2006
Music and Rafting on Bighorn Sheep Canyon
(Click here)
March, 2006
March shows and Monarch Ski resort
(Click here)
January, 2006
Soul Link
(Click here)
Receive this newsletter every month
by subscribing to Uveges News on Yahoo Groups:
Yahoo! Groups Links:
To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uveges-news/
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
uveges-news-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
(Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/)
