Mood For the Day
Today's Mood on Wed, 9 Jul 1997
A solid red flannel shirt obscures a crimson sports top on a woman determined to move to the groove of the upright bass. The three-piece combo plays a hopped-up version of an old Hendrix tune while she travels on the floor and through the air as effortlessly as the music flows.
As she moves, she gives the impression that dancing is a trivial effort; that to feel something strongly enough is the only prerequisite to perfect expression. The clumsy suitors who seek to join her on the dance floor quickly dispel that illusion; perhaps she's been trained where they've been self-indulgent, but only she can perform such flawless feats of dexterity and flexibility.
She moves outside for air, and the band plays even harder in a vain effort to draw even the most timid up to the dance floor. Two groups of people occupy the bar, each oblivious to the motivations of the other: the inebriated and emboldened, as well as the sober and self-absorbed. Neither type approach the dance floor; without the Lady, it remains empty.
Just then, a new breed enters the bar: the self-conscious. They half-strut into the bar, doing a phony little dance only as long as they pass by the dance floor. The band, not oblivious but unheedful, plays on. The bassist plays like an animal, but within that context, he's very composed. The drummer supports him like scaffolding, and the guitarist sings with his fingers as well as his voice, screaming his anthems of pain and determination to a crowd so receptive that they don't realize what's getting to them.
Eventually, it becomes too hot for flannel, and the room begins to faintly resemble an old speakeasy -- a cursory glance reveals innocent dancing to exquisite jazz and blues, but closer examination discloses decadence and depravity.
A patron looks upon more of the dancing crowd and is able to understand how his friend likes the types of people that he does. He looks at the stereotype that his friend offers and he is almost surprised to see true beauty. He's not quite sure how to take that, but he immediately distrusts it: he believes beauty is everywhere -- for those who want it -- and not restricted to outworn prejudices or imposed ideas.
Through it all, she glides along the floor, a joyful testament to the love of life.
---+-
Back
Email Shea