Sometimes, you just have to step out on faith.
Thought I would start with the moral of my story to get it out of the way. I know some of you hate spoilers, but I say, why wait till the end? Most stories end on the "you gotta have faith" note anyway so there is no surprise here.
So this is all about a man and his play. No, a man, his play, my girlfriend and me. Wait, it's actually about all of the above, Spiderman, and someone asking to watch me pee and me getting kinda choked up about it. Sound interesting? Read on...
After HBO Def Poet and hip-hop theater artist Ise Lyfe came to Train of Thought and performed his performance lecture "Is Everybody Stupid", I knew I was going to learn a great deal from this brother. It was the start of something for sure. I chased that feeling, made plans to drive cross state to Oakland from San Diego to watch Ise's full production theatre piece "Pistol's and Prayers". This turned out to be no easy task for several reasons (ill just give you the main two). One, I was balling on a budget with my infamous blue Saturn threating to be in one of her moods. Two, in order to get my girlfriend to go I had to promise to stay with her college buddy and her two kids in a tiny studio near San Francisco.
Won't bore you with all the details, but the boys were all sorts of cute and energized at six the next morning. Not just laughing energized, but kung-fu, spider-man, jump on and off the bed energized. We shared a common love of comic heroes and being fatherless boys in a house full of women. Got through the punches, kicks and fake action sound effects like a champ. Got to admit, Gill loves the kids.
The play itself was amazing. When you hear hip-hop theatre, you might think it would be just about the culture. I was pleasantly surprised to see how far reaching the piece goes. Along with rap, spoken word, videos, modern dance, African American spirituals, Ise also uses all the characters trapped inside him to speak to and about American culture as a whole. I was blown away.
Waking up the next day, duty called. One of the kids knocked on the door. "What are you doing?" "I'm going pee." I replied. "Can I watch?" he asked through the door. The question took me back a little. Then I asked myself would I have or had I ever asked the same thing. He just wanted to see how it all works. Knowing what it was like not having a man around I admit I got choked up at the same time I was making my business, weird sensation. To answer the question you may be thinking I told him NO, but it got me to thinking of Ise's play and how much fathers or the lack there of affects our lives. Maybe this little inquisitive one will grow up and be a poet like Ise or myself, using the power of written/spoken language to figure it all out, or at least ask the question in a fancy way. Maybe he'll perform it in a one-man play and call it "Spider-Man Pees Alone." Sounds like a winner.
See you for Pistol's and Prayers coming to the Queen Bee's Oct, 8th, 9th, and 10th. Go to www.iselyfe.com or www.trainofthoughtsd.com for more info and save money on pre-sale tickets.
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