Shanna O’Brien was the featured performer at the Open Mic on March 3. The Open Mic is held at Dagny Coffee, downtown Bakersfield, every First Friday at 6:00 pm.
O’Brien has performed since 1980. A few of the places were the Mandarin Hotel in Singapore and MGM Grand in Reno.
One of the song O’Brien sang, “Secret Tears” was about her mother. “She was a gifted singer and sang around the house and in church and I felt she longed for the same thing I did. Watching my Mother cry from time to time gave me courage to forge ahead on my own, develop my talents and helped me make up my mind that I wouldn’t leave my dreams behind,” said O”Brien.
Another song that was performed was, “Thank Goodness You’re Here.” It was about one of her many jobs. “I was working for a great company in Beverly Hills in a small office of three, the boss, the bookkeeper and me. One day the bookkeeper, who dressed like Mae West and was mean and abusive to me when the boss wasn’t around, got in a fight with the boss, quit and stormed out. I was given the job of interviewing candidates to fill her position. One day a really sweet, funny, intelligent young woman came for the interview and we immediately clicked. We became great friends and she inspired this song,” said O’Brien.
Both O’Brien’s songs are provided at the end of the story.
O’Brien has produced CD. Two of the recent CD are “Timeless” and “Focus on the Light.” She spoke about the process of making a CD. “All CD is a challenge. They take years. Lot of preparation, writing and editing. Creating a CD is a lot of work,” said O’Brien.
After O’Brien, there were musicians and poets who performed.
This evening’s Open Mic differed from previous ones. Usually there are no musicians performing; sometimes one or two. This night there were four musicians. Three of the musicians sang and played the guitar: Christina Ramirez, Angel Monreal and Jose Lopez. The fourth musician, Sequoia June, sang and played on a smaller string instrument.
One of the musicians, Jose Miguel Lopez, wrote a song to be performed at the Open Mic. At the event, “I walked through the fear of performing the songs I wrote, a part of me,” said Lopez. After performing, he “felt so good, I pushed through and grew as a person.”
Lopez first started playing the guitar then later wrote songs. When he wrote poetry, “it was fun, expressing myself. If I can connect to another person in poetry, that feels good to me,” said Lopez. He mentioned many factors that contributed to his being a performer. He had sung in the choir and took theater.
Lopez is currently working on an album. A test song for it is “Go and rejoice, you’ve got a choice. Go and use the voice you’ve been given.”
There were several poets who had performed on multiple occasions at the Open Mics. They were Chris Craddock, Mateo Lara and Diana Ramirez.
One of the poets, Diana Ramirez, had created and organized an event, “Words Come to Life.” She sent poems to artists, who then painted inspired by the words. At the event, the artworks were displayed at a gallery. The poets recited their work.
Ramirez first started writing poetry in high school. She stopped after graduating, then restarted writing in Bakersfield College. For a class she took photographs during the summertime. She said that there were opposites during the season, those of aliveness and dying. “It was a refreshing and also a sad feeling. I love the opposites,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez has performed regularly at the Open Mic. “Every Open Mic is different. I like the variety of writing. Everyone writes differently and recites differently. Its inspiring. It sometimes triggers something in me to write,” said Ramirez.
The other poets who performed their poems were: Chess Trustworthy, Francis B. (could not read his last name) and Edward Waters.
There was a poem that was written by an anonymous poet. It was not performed but written on a card. The host of the Open Mic had requested poems to be submitted for posting on the Kern Poetry website.
(poem was untitled)
Thoth ibis–headed god of
Writing, alchemy Magic.
Messenger between dreaming and earth.
Between the land of living & dead. . .
These are two of the songs that O’Brien performed, “Secret Tears” and “Thank Goodness You’re Here”
SECRET TEARS
©2007 Shanna O’Brien
Watched you staring out the kitchen window when you were feeling blue
Longed for you to notice me and help me make my dreams come true
But you were a southern girl raised with small town fears
You said, “We’re born to bake red velvet cake and cry secret tears.”
My brothers and sisters ran ‘round the house we took up all your time
Made me wonder if the tears you cried were for the dreams you left behind
I knew you loved me through all those years
But I didn’t want to bake red velvet cake and cry secret tears
So I took my little dreams into the corner of my room
Where I listened to my radio and sang every single tune
As the music moved me I began to realize
Your secret tears taught me not to cry
Secret tears will never fall from my eyes
Secret tears taught my dreams how to fly
‘Cause I didn’t want to cry
You left to sing with your angels when life was too much to bare
No tears in heaven now ‘cause I can feel you smiling there
As you watch the wings of my dreams in the sky
You know you secret tears taught my dreams to fly
Secret tears will never fall from my eyes
Secret tears taught my dreams how to fly
‘Cause I didn’t want to cry
Secret tears
Thank Goodness You’re Here
© 2007 Shanna O’Brien
Like a summer breeze she blew into this cold corporate world
To replace the mean ole’ battle-axe who had stormed out in a whirl
I reached out to shake her friendly hand and her pearly whites appeared
I smiled back and thought to myself, “Thank goodness you’re here!
At first the boss was mesmerized; his new girl was a blond
But I knew she’d soon see the light and our friendship would bond
Sure enough when he cracked that whip that brought her to tears
With her eyes wide open she said to me, “Thank goodness you’re here!”
Girlfriends in the office make this job OK
Girlfriends in the office gettin’ through another day
Just workin’ in the office doin’ what we do
Girlfriends in the office stick together like glue
Years have gone and we’re still here workin’ for the man
Doin’ the letters, doin’ the ledgers and doin’ the best we can
Through it all our friendship has become mighty dear
High fivin’ in the hallways, “Thank goodness you’re here”
Now we twirl the boss around our fingers like a baton
Watch the clock and count the minutes until he is gone
Then we flop on the couch talk on the phone
Surf the net or write a song, read a book or do yoga on the floor
Watch TV with an eye on the door while the coast is clear
And laugh about how lucky we are, “Thank goodness you’re here!
(Oh shit – here he comes!)
