update, 11/11/10, Chonz in the house

D ants,

This Friday night at 5pm we start off with JT Nolan, a friend who's music we have long admired. Free.

Then we have Mono Verde back in the house for an early show. Mono Verde is a great latin reggae band, similar to Manu Chao. We are very lucky to have them. The band is made up of members of 9 members from all over the world, a truly cosmopolitan group. They play from 8-10p. $6

And Mono Verde should have no problem getting the room hot enough for the premier show of DJ Chonz' weekly residency every Friday nights at 10pm. Some of you may know Chonz as the drive time DJ for KS 107.5, the booty jam station. Chonz is as good as it gets and will be spinning a mix of hip hop, latin and R&B. But even the best DJ can't do it without dancers, and that is where we need your help. Help us make the front windows sweat, like they do on salsa night. Please spread the word to dancers far and wide. $5 cover, but ladies are free, so especially tell your girlfriends...

Saturday night we have a three band line up local goodness, The Mitch Lehn Folk Trio, Jake Leg Shakers and The Incantations. It should be noted that the Mitch Lehn Folk Trio is not a trio and not even all that folky. But we always enjoy them, same with Jake Leg Shakers. The Incantations are new to the D Note, but we're intrigued.

A reminder that Martin Gilmore is leading a weekly Bluegrass jam after Trivia on Thursdays at 9pm. Don't miss the opportunity to work on your chops, and more importantly, to be involved in playing music. Same goes for Blues Jam with The Clamdaddys on Wednesday nights and Open Stage on Monday nights. And, if you've been wanting to learn to swing, there's a swing blues dance lesson for $5 with teacher Rachael DeMers on Wednesdays at 7pm.

Mark your calendars for our second annual Beard & Mustache Showdown, with OAKHURST, Acoustic Mining Company and Bonnie and The Beard, next Saturday, Nov. 22.

Over and in,

D ploy

Extra Credit: We once had the privilege of seeing the poet Denise Levertov read, shortly before she died. Her rhythms rocked you to sleep, but the ideas in the poems woke you up. Here's a terrific poem of hers from 1960 that we recently discovered.

Come into Animal Presence
Come into animal presence.
No man is so guileless as
the serpent. The lonely white
rabbit on the roof is a star
twitching its ears at the rain.
The llama intricately
folding its hind legs to be seated
not disdains but mildly
disregards human approval.
What joy when the insouciant
armadillo glances at us and doesn't
quicken his trotting
across the track into the palm brush.

What is this joy? That no animal
falters, but knows what it must do?
That the snake has no blemish,
that the rabbit inspects his strange surroundings
in white star-silence? The llama
rests in dignity, the armadillo
has some intention to pursue in the palm-forest.
Those who were sacred have remained so,
holiness does not dissolve, it is a presence
of bronze, only the sight that saw it
faltered and turned from it.
An old joy returns in holy presence.