Fortune Lady

On the last weekend in August Emi and I went to the reopening of the new Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley. If you’ve never been there, don’t think of ordering a double latte with a sprinkle of chocolate powder; it’s not really a coffee house, more like a miniature Yoshi’s. They had Ramblin’ Jack Elliot for the night. He is a legend within the folk music world as far back as when I was young, single, and stupid, still am but a tad smarter. We didn’t go there to see him though he was entertaining with excellent folk guitar playing and a lot of dry, dry, parched dry humorous yakkin’ (the reason for his name I’m guessing).

We went there to see the opening act featuring Rick Didia and Aireene Espiritu, and in particular we went there to see Aireene who I would like to consider a friend of mine. Of course, understand that I use the word “friend” loosely. I met Aireene some years ago when the hui played for Purple Moon down in Chinatown. She had performed with Rick just before us. I didn’t get a chance to hear them play, because we were rehearsing when they were on, but I was curious about her music because (cue the drum roll) she played a vintage Martin tenor UKULELE. After our performance she was still around and I had a chance to talk to her. I lamely but sincerely asked her how she played her ukulele. She answered saying she strummed and picked chords…duh, and then she said pleasantly, “Here, you can have my CD to listen to.” I was thrilled. I thanked her and when I got home I did listen to her CD, and I must say I still do. It is one of my favorite CD. Her style, genre, is a blend of folk, country, blues, and strictly Aireene. Her ukulele is picking and strumming. Hey, that’s what she said. Her low voice is earthy, sweet, and dramatic.

Some two years later I saw Rick and Aireene perform and the Velo Rouge Café on Arguello Street and yes they do serve coffee at this cafe. It’s a small venue and I got a chance to see them up close. Rick noticed that I was there for a very long time and thanked me at the end. Not long after that I took Emi to the old Freight and Salvage to see them. She liked them as much as I and the audience on hand.

Moving forward in time. About a year later I saw Aireene in Kuishinbo in J-town having lunch. At a propitious moment I went up to talk to her. I think subconsciously I wanted to see if I could converse without making a fool of myself twice over. I know not my limits. I asked her if she ever gave lessons and she said that she was actually thinking about it. Well we talked about the particulars and later arranged a time and place where she would attempt to teach me. With some effort I did learn how to play and sing one of her own compositions, “Fortune Lady,” but I think the ordeal, aka teaching, had traumatized her, for she did not want to continue, which was OK. I understood completely. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to have continued the lessons either. I exasperate myself continually in the effort of learning anything. In addition she had sprained her ankle badly which made getting around difficult and realized that teaching was time consuming, a commodity that she had little of. But I feel privileged that she had spent the time to teach me her song, a song that she had performed at every show that I’ve seen and the song that is on both her CD’s. I can only assume that it is one of her favorites. That thought gives me some trepidation whenever I sing it, afraid of ruining it. Aireene actually wanted me to record it and send it to her. It took me over a year to get the nerve to do it, and it took three takes before it was a keeper. Even then it was far from perfect, but by then I was so worn out with the effort the mere thought of trying again was overwhelming.

Here’s a link to Aireene singing “Fortune Lady,” Aireene not me, and Rick and Aireene singing some of their other great songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4_36UKIRVE