Zoe Goldie, a Benicia High School senior, thought it would be fun to have one last senior event with her friends and classmates before graduation sent them hither and yon into life’s next great adventures, with all proceeds to go to ARF, the Animal Rescue Foundation. So she set forth on her mission: locate a place, write a press release, get it to the paper, organize, organize, organize. An email address, a website, a time frame, an application for auditions, rehearsal, the list is monumental. Come see and enjoy, this Friday, St. Patrick’s Day at the Benicia Clocktower, 5 p.m. to midnight. Eat, enjoy and be Merry, tickets $10 online, $12 at the door:

Songwriting 2.0 

Poetry is great fun, but songwriting is like spreading all your marbles
across the floor or table and then trying to dance to the rhythm and the lyrics you’ve created. “Laid Off American Man” was written in 1994,
Video-Recorded LIVE at “Listen & Be Heard Poetry Cafe” on Marin Street in Vallejo in 2005. Uploaded to youtube.com in 2008, with two
sites receiving 1490 views in 8 years. Pretty exciting stuff! Check it out:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZaiTAx-wo

Laid Off American Man

Intro and Chorus:
I do windows, I do floors,
I do hallways, I do doors,
I do anything I can,
I’m a Laid Off American Man.

First Verse:
I’m a product of the bottom line, everybody says ‘it’s gonna be fine,’
so come on down to the Unemployment Line, we’ll have a little party at the end of the line.
I was a VP in charge of BD, I was an acronym in the company hymn,
a journeyman in the company plan, now all my tools are in a one-man van.

(Repeat chorus above)

Second Verse:
With a Mission Statement and a cellular phone, a corporate watch, and Company Loan,
I was a VP in charge of BD. My severance pay was a BIG Handshake,
I’m on the road for as long as it takes, I was a VP in charge of BD.
(He repeats himself, his former identity must be waning!)

Jump directly to the closing summary and the Volume goes way up too:

Now I’m a Gardener in the Promised Land, all my tools are in a one-man van!

Close with last extended chorus:
I do windows, I do floors, I do hallways, I do doors,
I do anything I can…2, 3, 4, I’m a Laid Off American Man.

Notes:
“One-man van” is a great rhyme for rhyme’s sake, but it was a 1989 Toyota pickup truck. Currently, it’s “The Tan Pony,” another Toyota, but newer by 15 years. Likewise, “VP in charge of BD,” is an example of fully creative license, since nothing rhymes with “Graphics Manager, Bechtel, SF.” After 3-Mile island in the late 1980’s, the US nuclear industry was over. SF-Beale Street was too high a rent district for an Engineering-construction firm one block off of Market Street. So what to do with all those people? Adios, Amigos! – PB

Peter Bray lives, works, and writes in Benicia
and has written this column since 2008.

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