Section Two – Michael ‘Blind-Dog’ Gatewood
A year later, she’s watching the cat. Slung across the sofa, her arms at odds with her legs, she stares at Beaker, who is extending his furred self to his utmost length atop a pile of clothes in a patch of sun with that specific feline abandon that seems a denial of physical form, a looseness implying he might have suddenly become a rug.
Sophie’s head is cocked to one side, her eyes half-open, her lips likewise barely parted. There’s a deep gentleness in her watching, as if she’s dissolved into the bright space around the cat and the textured nap of its fur. She’s forgotten her own body and her awareness delicately overlies the animal in the heat from the window, the glow of the demarcated floor, the spin and swirl of dust hanging just above.
Cloud Diary-Michael ‘Blind Dog’ Gatewood
written and performed by Michael ‘Blind Dog’ Gatewood
“Blind-Dog” Gatewood is a native of the Motor City and has been a music teacher, instrument technician and professional musician since the age of 16. His early exposure to some of the diverse musical influences in Detroit created the framework for his extensive mastery of the blues via R&B, funk, rock, and fusion. He is an award-winning one-man act who has polished his chops in places as diverse as the Sierra Foothills, the Mojave Desert, Mississippi Delta and the streets of New Orleans. In September 2002, he took the first prize in Colorado at the Telluride Acoustic Blues competition. First place winners are honored with a performance on the main stage the following day at the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival for over seven thousand attendees. That same year he won the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s Blues Challenge out of Louisville Kentucky and represented the Society at the International Blues Challenge on Beale Street in Memphis Tennessee. In 2004 “Blind-Dog” was a Finalist for the first Annual International Acoustic Music Awards (IAMA) in the category of AMERICANA/ROOTS/AAA, for his song “TELLURIDE”. In addition, a Simi finalist in 2006 in the International Song Contest (ISC), Blues category, for his song “Monkey On My Back”. In June of 2005, “Blind-Dog” took first place in the Memphis Blues Society’s Battle of the Blues solo division on Beale Street and represented them at the 22nd annual International Blues Challenge that January in Memphis. In 2006 “Blind-Dog” wins the Battle of the Blues two years in a row and represented the Memphis Blues Society at the 23rd annual International Blues Challenge, this was his third time to compete at the IBC in Memphis.
“Blind-Dog” was recently crowned “King of the Blues” at the Guitar Center Evansville IN October 2009. In 2011his CD “The Ashbrokke Sessions” was nominated and Included in “The Best self produced category competition for the IBC. In 2014 “Blind-Dog” took first place in the River Basin Blues Society IBC Local and returned to the International Blues Challenge in January of 2015. This year on 09/27 at the Blind Tiger in Greensboro, NC., “Blind-Dog” took first place in the Piedmont Blues Society’s Blues Challenge, Solo/Duo, and proudly represented the PBS in 2016 at the IBC on Beale Streeat in Memphis. “Blind-Dog” also performed at the 30th annual Carolina Blues Festival in 2016 on the main stage for the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society. Truly, a one-man band, “Blind-Dog” is now based out of Greensboro, NC.
The Cloud Diary Music Project
We sent musicians a synopsis of Cloud Diary and a randomly chosen scene from among 12 scattered throughout the novel and asked them to respond to the scene, musically or aurally. The piece could be of any genre and any duration. It could be music already recorded, adapted, or written specifically for the scene. Find more information here.
Click here for the full Music Project playlist.