Van Dyke

Kind of an interesting night in Beily’s yesterday. I had gotten my material together, all new and untried, and was, for want of a better word, ‘ready’ for public consumption. I was going to talk about my Van, my daughter, how I love both, and how both relationships were jeopardized by two decisions my daughter made: her decision to experiment with a Sapphic lifestyle and her decision to attempt to, ‘Jack My Ride!’


Good numbers at Beily’s last night, but, an oddly quiet crowd. I was introduced after a performance by, Finn McCoul, the Irish Slam poet, who, by the way, didn’t receive much in the way of appreciation. Quiet crowd! They listened politely, but were niggardly in any meaningfully overt display of humorous appreciation. It was a fairly long, and fairly quiet set! I could hold their attention, but, failed to draw them in, or rather, in military parlance, “I failed to engage.’

I can’t blame the audience; it’s never their fault. I can shoulder partial responsibility by acknowledging that, none but a fool would do all new material in a set. But, I was not the only one doing new material, and the one fellow who did his ‘A’ list, while receiving positive audience response, did, to my mind get a muted reaction from the crowd. The two other fellows who did new material, to my ear, also received an attentive, though lethargic response. As for my own presentation, ...the roar of applause was most noticeable by its’ absence.

Beyond that, I didn’t get on stage ‘til almost 11:00, was home by 12:05, and managed to tuck myself in before 1:00. Tired tonight, and, refusing to sit down tomorrow, so this entry is short. If I achieved anything last night, it is a puzzling 39th performance; that is good, but, I will be thinking about it for a while.