OLYMPIA, WA: ORCA BOOKS
On Wednesday, I again paired up with Melinda Moustakis to read in Olympia, Washington – birthplace of the band Sleater-Kinney – to read at Orca Books. Orca is a small store with everything: great used books, a great selection of new books, and great journals. Although Larry, who coordinates the events at Orca, could not be there, it was fantastic to meet the store owner Linda, who introduced both Melinda and me.
I sang again that night because my friend from Texas, Kelly Wood, was in the audience.
When I was in the tenth grade at Mansfield High School, I auditioned for the musical Little Shop of Horrors and almost got the part of the nitrous-ripping dentist. However, I did not know how to sing. Kelly, a talented musician who also went to MHS, was doing the music for the play, and he offered to help me out. The afternoon before my audition, he drove me around for two hours in his father’s yellow Corvette, trying to teach me how to keep in key with a Depeche Mode song. I later did the song on stage in front of the theater teacher and her assistant and watched as they tried not to cringe every few seconds. I did not get the part. While at Orca on Wednesday, just as I was about to sing, the store’s orange cat came running toward me, and, once I started to sing, the cat bolted in the opposite direction. Smart cat.