The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. I am not against planning, nor do I fully embrace an unbridled, reckless, impulsive lifestyle. However, I do believe that, especially in New York City, being spontaneous can be rewarding and lead to some pleasant surprises. I highly recommend occasionally wandering this city with no agenda. Looking through the postings I have done on this website, the majority of the most interesting experiences were the unplanned. One of the most remarkable was my running into a major street healing with internationally renowned preacher Todd Bentley. Of course, planning the unplanned is itself a tricky proposition and can lead to forced spontaneity, with results perhaps as unsatisfying as overplanning.

With none of these thoughts in mind, and just meandering the streets on a warmish evening, my steps led me to Terra Blues. I thought I would take a quick peek inside. It was after 11 PM. There is no cover charge at these times, so I walked right in. Typically, this club is quiet on a week night.

I was rather shocked to find the place jammed, with the feeling of a religious revival meeting. The leader of the band, who I was later to learn was Slam Allen, was walking and working the audience, shaking hands and greeting everyone in the middle of his music set. Extremely amiable – Slam appears to make bonding with an audience the absolute center of his performances. At one point, a woman started singing to him in a voice which, if not trained, was startlingly confident. In New York City, any performer should be prepared for this – I have often seen talent in an audience which is greater than that of the performer.

Many performers would give something like this a lukewarm reception and patronizing approval, perhaps feeling upstaged. But Slam was wowed, not threatened or competitive at all, and, without hesitation, insisted she join him onstage. They did a number together – the photo is a still image from a short video I took – you can see the one minute clip here. Be forewarned – the quality of the video is rather unpolished, as the spontaneous often is…

NOTE: Slam Allen is a singer and guitar player who does a blues/soul fusion. His pedigree and career are quite notable, playing with greats like James Cotton.