The end of an era...

I received some very sad news a couple of weeks back. Mike Day sent me a text message to tell me that our favorite karaoke place (and, really, it was my only karaoke place), Cherries, had not only closed down, but was demolished. The reason for the demolition I am sure was because it was in the middle of nowhere with a lot of land around it. I’d imagine the land was sold and the building got lumped into the deal. Cherries was a bar/karaoke lounge and it was nestled inside a larger Japanese restaurant.

I forwarded the sad news on to about 10 friends who had sang there with us over the years. One woman responded especially mad that we only found out after that fact and that we weren’t given an opportunity to go there one last time for old time’s sake. I felt her pain.

I still remember the first song I ever sang at Cherries—it was an oldie called “Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass. That had to have been almost 10 years ago (yikes!).

Over the many years I brought many out-of-town guests to Cherries to sing (folks like LC, Jermaine, Steph, Ricky, Florin, Marcos) and coworkers (Janet, Bob, Matty T) in addition to local friends to Cherries to sing a song. We had also, for a period of time, truly become “regulars” there and we became friendly with the other regulars and the gal who tended the bar and programmed the karaoke machine. I feel nostalgia setting in.

Even though I haven’t been to Cherries in at least a year if not two, it’s still just sad to know it’s no longer there for me to come in, pay a dollar, and sing.

I think we often wind up feeling that way about people and places…we may not always see them or visit them, but we just feel better knowing they are out there for us when we need them.

Cherries, thanks for the memories--we will miss you!

Man overboard

For this past week I have been feeling very angry that Jarred got laid off. The company who hired him only 6 months ago laid him off last Friday (and that very day was his last day in the office, no phasing out or anything, he was just asked to leave right then) and announced the entire company is closing in December.

Jarred was hired with the title of Director of New Business (again, only 6 months ago). Was he hired as a potential last-hope savior of a sinking ship? Did this company think he was going to come in and in less than 6 months gather enough new business to single-handedly help them avoid closing their doors?

I just think things like that really stinks.

We could all be laid off at any given moment, myself included. I am not naive enough to not know that is a reality in today's working world. I just don’t like that Jarred was brought aboard a ship that was already sinking and then thrown overboard. Yuck.