HOMESHAKE

It’s the early 2000’s. A music video plays on a nearby loop on the Much Music TV channel. A

man stands in a room, the background is nothing, non existent, as if in a void. The camera rolls

and does not stop. He is shirtless. Sparse guitars begin as the camera sways effortlessly

through the abyss, never taking its omnipotent gaze off the man. He is shirtless, cut from stone

like a statue from antiquity. Flawless in all regards, but we have not seen everything yet. The

music ungulates towards an apex as the camera begins to lower its gaze. Revealed are two

lines few have seen before. Angular muscles beginning at the navel and ending at the thighs. A

new style of music video is formed, a unique take of R&B is created, the artistry of D’angelo is

now truly whole.

Peter sits at home transfixed to the screen. He is amazed as his perception of what is possible

in music has changed. Peter is now on the precipice of a new dawn.

Morning has broken.

“Wake up, grandma why don’t you put on a little makeup.” Or so he thought the lyrics went to

the new music video playing. Chop Suey by System of a Down. Peter is flabbergasted again.

More new styles of music, more new guitar riffs! He sits, mouth open, with a copy of Guitar

World magazine open to the tablature of Chop Suey. Reading the fine print with a magnifying

glass he is now completely stunned, knocked flat onto his back, when he learns a guitar can be

tuned much lower than he had expected! Drop C in fact. A tuning he uses to this day.

“Time to go to school young man. This essay isn’t going to read itself,” he thinks to himself

clutching his homework. At school a classmate of Peter reads his essay aloud for marks. They

stumble through the quote “Be careful when staring into the abyss because the abyss will stare back into you.” After class, amazed at his friend’s penmanship, Peter does a secret handshake with the author to celebrate the success of the essay. A ‘home-shake.’ That was the moment he realized how to unite his new inspirations. An artist is born.

-written by an interested third party

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

New World Music Hall, 810 E Skagway Ave, Tampa, United States