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KATHY’S NIGHT OFF – the real story
Back in the early 1990s, Mike
Williams had returned from his annual pilgrimage to the Kerrville Folk
Festival in central Texas, along with his sweetie and life-partner of
<mumble> years, Kathy Cloninger. It got to be February of 1993, he
was sitting around the house, bemoaning the fact that he'd have to wait way too many
months before the next Kerrville event in mid-May. He looked around the room, did some
quick spatial calculations, and decided to remedy that problem himself. A few calls to
songwriter friends and others, and within a day or two he had scheduled a Wednesday-night
song circle, designed to bring that "campfire feeling" back home to Nashville,
Tennessee.
In Mike's own words: "The pickin' parties
began February 1993 at our house on Estes Drive, and they were an immediate success
-- although it is true that there was one bad-weather party during that first spring,
where only Fred Koller showed up. Of course, he and I jammed anyway. On another occasion
that spring, a good crowd showed up but only one of the featured songwriters made it ...
so I hauled five more songwriters out of the audience, and it became one of the best
circles we ever had. From that point on, I knew there was always more talent in the
audience then onstage. Kathy and I hosted two parties a month the first two months, then
in April 1993 we expanded to every Wednesday night, except the first Wednesday of each
month. We had a wonderful 9 months on Estes Drive, then at Halloween 1993 we bought the
house [a large A-frame in West Meade]
at 6457 Fleetwood Drive and moved the pickin' party to that location."
The Fleetwood villa was at the top of a
steep hill and even steeper driveway, overlooking a West Nashville mini-mall far
below through the trees. (Wood Newton even penned a song - which may or may not have
preceded the place, but it's a great story, anyway - called "Pink Flamingos,"
which was cut and released by Tracy Bird: "Pink Flamingos in the front
yard / Picture window with a view of Wal-Mart ... Pink Flamingos!") The
clue that told you you were in the right place was the sign on the mailbox at the foot of
the driveway hill: "Park On Street ... Sing On Key!"
Legendary events took place at the top of that driveway for the next decade-almost.
Mike again: "In
March 2000, we cut back our party schedule to the 2nd and 4th and 5th Wednesdays of each
month, and we kept that pace until our final party, on September 24, 2003, celebrating
Danny Dill's 79th birthday. Through 300 incredible pickin' parties in 11 years, we
presented 400 excellent featured songwriter/performers and innumerable inspiring 'pilgrim'
artists to an average audience of 70 diehard driveway climbers. ... "Now in New York
City since December 2003, we are hosting the SoHo Pickin' Party on the 2nd and 4th
Tuesdays of each month, drawing an average of 90 people to our loft. Many old friends and
road pals, and many new NYC-area talents, have made our first 31 parties here (as of this
report on August 9, 2005) a roaring success."
But back to the KNO story: With
the move to West Meade, the event began to really catch on, and Mike continued to hold it,
every Wednesday but the first one of each month. At some point early on, he was asked why
he skipped over that month-opening date. "These parties take some work to
put on," he explained. "And Kathy needs a night off!"
(Note: This was somewhat belied by the reality: (1) Kathy was actually the main
breadwinner of the couple, from her perch as Middle Tennessee Director for the Girl
Scouts; (2) Mike was the one who kept the house clean and set up for each Wednesday's
festivities; (3) Kathy, however, often did have to rise at oh-dark thirty
the next way-to-early morn, for some breakfast meeting with the Governor. But the concept
held, anyway.)
Neil Fagen (longtime main
sound wizard, now assistant manager, at the Bluebird Cafe -- when not promoting his own
career as a writer and alternative solo artist), decided there was a gap to be filled --
namely, that first Wednesday! And what better name to give it, than "Kathy's
Night Off"! So for the next several months, starting in the spring of 1995,
Neil hosted a circle in the living room of the house he was sharing with about three other
guys, just down the street from Douglas Corner off Eighth Avenue. (His first round, IIRC,
consisted of Gillian Welch, Rand Bishop, Craig Carothers and Michael Reynolds, along with
Neil himself, of course.) After about six months, Neil moved to a smaller place, and had
to let the circle die out. But in early 1996, after only a few months of no circles
other than Mike's, the gauntlet was taken up by Fett and Nancy Moran.
They opened their spacious home in Brentwood, and for the next about two years there were
monthly gatherings in that setting. When they let it go, Steve Key opened
his smaller but still festive house in the Crieve Hall region southeast of town, and
continued for about another year before moving back to Washington, D.C.
There was a stretch of nearly a year before
I got tired of those empty First Wednesdays, and went in search of a suitable venue. In April
2000, I found one: A friend & colleague, jazz "Diva du Jour" Suzahn
(among her other noms de musique), had a connection with a local doctor, an ADHD
specialist with offices on Belcourt Avenue, down the street from the Theater. For about
the next six months she and I co-hosted a first Wednesday round. (The complete roster
is listed below, along with all the succeeding ones I have organized and/or hosted since.)
Shortly after that ended, due to a number of factors, I happened to attend a combination
New Year's Day/housewarming party at the outset of 2001 (in the Nashville Trace realm),
noticed the perfect surroundings and space-size of the hosts' living-room, and commented
on this fact. By the very next month, Ron Heacock and Karen Walasek were
hosting -- and I was able to focus on organizing, booking and promoting -- the NEW Kathy's
Night Off festivities. For almost the next two years, we never missed a one, and even
expanded the offerings to include poetry and other kinds of artistic endeavor once or
twice.
We went on like that for almost two more
years, with some very fine rounds, often created on the fly as other engagements changed
the lineup (sometimes even on the morning of the day in question). The round scheduled for
November 2002 was going to be the last one at Ron and Karen's; due to a personal issue
they were not even there to host it. They also decided to bow out from further
hosting. Fortuitously, my own living-space had changed in the meantime, and I was able to
open my own living-room in West Nashville (located less than a mile from
the main Pickin' party site!) to take up the slack for December. That first round
featured Melissa Javors, Rex Foster, Bill Mann and Shawn Gallaway.
With the exception of a couple of last-minute cancellations, and a skipping over of New
Year's Day once or twice when that happened to be the first Wednesday of the new year,
we've been going ever since!
In August, 2005, Kathy's Night Off moved to Inglewood,.where
Rick and Stephanie Perry graciously agreed to host, and for a year and a
half, we were treated -- to both those warm and cheeery confines and Stephanie's
"Soup of the Month" (which went away into various mouths and stomachs, almost as
soon as we had declared the break!). We will miss that place, but it was time to move
along ...
And NOW, another new home for KNO: the lovely West Nashville space
of Susan Shann and Gary Gullbergh, who followed up their appearance in
the circle in March, 2007, by agreeing to take over hosting duties , while I continue to
twist arms to get folks to come join us. (If you don't yet know how to be among them, just
drop me an e-mail and I will put you on the
announcement list!)
And now you know .. the rest of the story!!
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