. . . More than that, I believe.
There’s a reason that the Three Blind Mice Irish Pub in downtown Mount Clemens looks and feels so right. It has been a bar, or pub or speakeasy, gentleman’s gathering place and or music venue for 118 years now.
That means for way more than a century, people have been gathering on this spot to forget the troubles of the ancient world. We come together, we mourn, we celebrate and we speculate on where we will be in one hundred years or more.
Our job, Carl and I, is to entertain those souls when they gather. A theme-song of the human experience, so to speak. To use music to break down the walls that the world builds around us of worry, doubt and dismay.
Paired with just the right adult libation, music can find a way into each heart and mind, freeing it to expel the demons of our modern society.
If but for a short while.
These walls have heard it all. The exhalation and pathos we all endure in our time and trials on this Earth. More than not, the folks that gather to share their experiences, do not seek to solve the worlds’ problems from the glistening edge of their favorite glass; they only attempt to share in the knowledge that their common thoughts and wishes can be auditioned.
We set the mood. We begin slowly and carefully. Not too loud, not too timidly. We break the ice. We become the focus in the room from the very first chord. By coming forward to offer our musical illusions, it allows the patrons to relax and express their inner feelings and phobias. This process of people sharing and finding common ground in others is why people are inherently gregarious in the first place.
After all, people need people. 
(I believe someone said that in a song.)
We gather in groups to share and to like; (and to hate, unfortunately). But, if there is song involved, that gathering can be glorious. They gathered together in the 1800’s to hear a man called Lincoln.
They gathered right here in Mount Clemens to hear a man Called Kennedy. They gathered in Woodstock New York to pay tribute to the electric musical gods of their time.
They gather here and there, far and wide; all over the world. Music is the new religion of our age. Music is the tonic that soothes our souls. It enlightens, it uplifts.
Music breaks down barriers and brings people closer together. Music is the universal langue that we all respond to. It can bridge the gaps between us all. It can inspire us, unite us or ignite us, as it can be a catalyst for great change and hope.
Music is that important, and as such, we take is very seriously.
When a venue that has been such an significant gathering place for so long marries with music that has been the voice of generations, the results are awe-inspiring.
People that come through those venerable doors to lose their troubles and cares, are almost saying . . . “Take away my troubles, for a while. Let me lose myself in song, and let me be renewed!”
We talked to many of the people that came into the Three Blind Mice last Friday night. We thanked them for arriving, and let them know that they were welcome, and able to hear whatever kind of music made them happy.
That is our job. We play the music, they feel good.
Friends from far away came to see us. They talked and listened and felt better when they left. Pretty simple. It works.
As soon as one big group finished for the night, another came to take their place. It worked out very well.
So many people need comfort and care And and place that they feel good. A place that they can express themselves and the joy they feel for living.
Music helps that process. It has for a year, or a decade or a century and more.
People, music and time.
Rb
