Weird Wednesday

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Dreamland Theater, dimly glimpsed through the smoky glass of the alley window, as forbidding and enticing as the little locked door in Bluebeard's palace. On a Weird Wednesday night, if you are fortunate, you may see them emerge onto the candlelit stage to add a captivating and strange brand of whimsy to the most unique open-mike night around.

Jaunty master of ceremonies Misha Grey, sporting a goatee and a stylish cap, kicked one Weird Wednesday off with flair, opening with his original organ prelude. It had an electronic cathedral sound, like Notre Dame in a box. He followed this with a toe-tapping synthesizer jam that had the small audience clapping.

Next up was unassuming Kirk Kitchen. His quiet reading of his short story "Rara and Me" drew me into a private world that left me nostalgic for a dried-up riverbed on a sunny afternoon spent with a free-spirited woman named Rara. Months later, the images he conjured are still with me.