Open mic muse

I dreamed I went to an open mic night in Nevada City. It was a small venue, so I was surprised by the size of the crowd. I started feeling a bit nervous, but that feeling was relieved when I realized that I hadn't brought my guitar. Good, I thought, I really hadn't been practicing, and I had no clue what I would have played anyway.

My anxiety returned, however, when I saw my friend Jason in the crowd holding out a guitar for me.

"You can use mine," he said, smiling broadly.

I accepted the guitar reluctantly and desperately tried to think of a song to play. Nothing was coming to mind except for the song "Julia" by the Beatles. I recently learned to play it and had sung it to my friend Emery for Christmas, swapping the names to personalize it a bit, since they both have the same number of syllables. 

I was contemplating whether or not I could pull it off without the words and chords in front of me, but I ran into another obstacle. I had no capo, and the song requires one on the second fret in order to play it in the proper key. No capo, no dice. Good, I thought again, I was off the hook. 

At that moment, I heard the strains of "Julia" coming from an adjacent venue. Someone was already singing my song and doing a pretty good job of it. I was definitely not going to play it now. The point was moot, however, because Jason had to leave, and he took his guitar with him. 

I sat down and waited for the show to begin. A blonde, matronly lady seated next to me grabbed my hand and whispered something to me that I couldn't understand. Looking around, I saw that everyone was holding hands, even the people up on the stage. 

The lights dimmed, but when my eyes adjusted, I noticed that the people up on the stage were unclothed, some completely nude and others with towels wrapped around their waists. It appeared that the stage was one giant hot tub, and the whole of the crowd was in a giant line waiting to get in. Those closest to the tub were perspiring, and I become a bit uncomfortable with the situation, so I split. 

The next day, I found a tamer venue in a jewelry shop. It was a much brighter room with sparsely decorated white walls and rows of folding chairs all pointing toward the store's front display windows. I looked around for a seat, hoping to find someone I knew, but I couldn't find either. 

At some point, magically, this venue turned into an outdoor one, in the middle of a courtyard of sorts, where everyone was seated on the grass. There was a building at the front, and stage was at the top of the stairs leading up to the front doors. I lay down on the grass and waited for the show to begin.

The first act was unmemorable, but as I lay there waiting for the next performer, I heard someone call my name. I looked around, but didn't recognize anyone. 

"Hey, Andrew," the voice called again. 

This time I could see the person connected to the voice. It was an Asian girl, mid thirties, with long hair, wearing a white sleeveless jumper. She was attractive in a Lucy Liu/Yoko Ono kind of way, more Lucy than Yoko, but I kind of got both vibes.

I still couldn't make out what the voice was saying beyond "Hey, Andrew..." and then some faint mumbly noises that mixed in with the chatter of the crowd. After a couple of back and forth exchanges of "Huh?" and "What?" she finally decided to move closer and sat down next to me on the grass.

I don't recall what we talked about, but we quickly felt comfortable enough that she lay down beside me and rested her body against mine while we watched the next act or two. Somehow, she convinced me that I should be performing, and reluctantly I left our cozy arrangement to try to round up some equipment. 

I started by trying to locate a guitar cable, and I began this unlikely process by making my way onto the roof of the building. I had to go through several apartments and a restaurant to get it, but I managed to locate a cord that was tied to the rain gutter with zip ties. I cut the ties and pulled up the cord, cleaning off leaves and dirt from it as I did so.

I still had to find the other end of the cord, however, so back through the restaurant and apartments I went, encountering various celebrities on the way, Jason Segal and Neil Patrick Harris among them. Eventually, I found myself back down on the street, staring up at the dangling end of this ridiculously long guitar cord, just out of reach. I knew I'd have to go back through the apartment, and I intended to do so, however, I woke up before I managed to do this.

I tried squinting my eyes really hard to get back into the dream, because I desperately wanted to get back to my muse, the Lucy Lui Ono girl, but all I got were faint images of her, back in the jewelry store, where she had been someone I didn't know and who didn't know me.