Thanks for having me at the SPOKANE GARDEN EXPO! It was a groovy experience😎

#BUSIKINGWITHFRANKIE HEE HEE

Thursday Afternoon in Spokane, I donned by baseball cap and headed out with zero fanfare or primping. This was a truly live and spontaneous event, and I’m so glad it was. I got lots of smiles and got to talk to some very warm people. At one point I left my camera on and recorded two songs and a whole conversation.😂😂 I’m sharing one of the songs here. Thank you for listening.

OLD FRIENDS

…a poem for a cloudy day

The Mouse and the Lion

The sun owns the sky

Magnificent and powerful

Brilliant and hot

At least until one fluffy, cotton candy ball

Of ghostly, grayish white

Like a scurrying, frightened, house mouse

Swallowing whole

The majestic king of beasts

And it’s huge, golden mane

Devours the perfect star

And all of its warmth and prospect

With one thoughtless clamping 

Of petite, marshmallow jaw

And, for a while, the sky holds nothing 

Only the cloud

And the Shadow

And the tell-tale silver lining

The only evidence 

Of the perfect crime

Poetry Rising Happened. I sang original music. I read some flash fiction and a couple of poems. Stephen share poetry and first hand experiences. Consider stopping by the Hayden, Idaho Library this coming Monday at 6pm for more Poetry Rising, music, poetry and prose.

UP THE STAIRWAY DOWN by Frankie Valinda Ghee

The petit wedding planner in the bright blue tank top and the fitted yoga pants walks up the black, metal stairway that begins where Spokane’s 8^th Avenue South abruptly ends.  The stairway is almost brand new, a definite improvement over the crumbling wreck of a thing it replaced last year.  The stairway is new, but the thing that has followed her all the way from the house she rents on the north side, over the Monroe Street Bridge, through Down Town Spokane and finally up Sherman Street’s steep climb is older than ancient, and it is hungry.

This monstrosity that dogs her step for step and breath for breath was once something like a massive bird or bat like thing.  Millennia of travel, abuse and aggression have distorted and maimed the creature rendering it gangly and impatient. 

The woman walks purposefully up the stairway, absent mindedly gripping the railing as she counts each step.  At the top, she stands firm and reaches out a small manicured hand.  The creature opens its mouth and extends a purple, plump and pitted tongue roughly the size and coloring of a loaf of moldy wheat bread.  There is a moment of shared affection.  Then, together the small woman and the beast sit at the top of the stairway and wait.  

The two of them always wait, sometimes hours for a lonesome traveler.  When the meal finally arrives, usually wearing something with a zipper and sporting headphones, they set upon it together with a ravenous fury befitting the giant mongrel thing and belying the dainty, fresh faced siren with whom it dines.

Only when the meal is done and the stairway has been licked clean of gristle and gore might one hear the playful banter of a young woman and her pet.

“Who’s a good boy?” she asks with good humor in a sweet mother’s voice.

“I am.  I am a good boy.” It growls back at her.  

They play for a few moments on the stairway and then head back down.

• MAY 9, AROUND THE PIANO SPOKANE, WA
• MAY 13, FRANKIE GHEE SINGS GARDEN EXPO SPOKANE WA
• MAY-OCT FRANKIE GHEE SINGS BUSKORAMA USA TBA, TBD
• MAY 24, FRANKIE GHEE SINGS, THE NEST, SPOKANE WA
• JUNE 2, WEST CENTRAL COMMUNITY NEIGHBOR DAY- EVENING AM PARK
• JUNE 9, FRANKIE GHEE SINGS, JD’S, BAY VIEW,ID 7-9pm
• JUNE 14, FRANKIE GHEE SINGS, THE NEST
• JULY 15, FRANKIE GHEE SINGS, TRADING CO, COLBERT WA
• AUGUST 13 FRANKIE GHEE SINGS ONE SHOT CHARLIE’S HARRISON, IDAHO
• OCTOBER 12, FRANKIE GHEE SINGS THURSDAY MARKET, SPOKANE, WA
• OCTOBER 19, FRANKIE GHEE SINGS NW MUSEUM OF ARTS & CULTURE SPOKANE, WA

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say “Hi”, to Listen and/or wish me well! It was a lot of fun. Please browse the site (and allaroundthepiano.com) for upcoming performances and creations!

COME CHILL (AND SING ALONG) WITH FRANKIE GHEE AT AK ASIAN ON APRIL 14 2023 6-8PM AK Asian Restaurant at 4824 East Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley.

JOIN FRANKIE GHEE AND STEPHEN PITTERS IN IDAHO ON APRIL 21 (ATHOL) AND APRIL 24 (HAYDEN) FOR POETRY PROSE AND MUSIC. BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR DETAILS AND DIRECTIONS👀

KEEP YOUR EARS PEELED FOR RANDOM BUSKING WHEN THE WEATHER GETS WARMER. I MEAN, MUCH WARMER😂

STAY TUNED FOR AROUND THE PIANO/CHARACTER BUILDING THROUGH MUSIC: MAY 9 AT SPOKANE, CENTRAL LIBRARY-DOWN TOWN

MAY 13 SPOKANE GARDEN EXPO- 3-5pm LAIR BUILDING SPOKANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

STAY TUNED FOR FRANKIE AT “THE NEST” IN KENDALL YARDS MAY 24 6:30-8:30PM

Today, my good friend Flor Sanchez came by to wrap up our entry for the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. We had three songs we were thinking might work. Guess which one we chose😂