I was there to see the end
I was saying hello and everyone was saying goodbye
To that old bar where everyone met their first or had their first, did their first and discovered a new part of who they were and what they were trying to say

I witnessed ghosts behind their smiles and saw shadows behind their eyes,
As they dreamed of another time, and felt the incoming death of the room that held so much, meant so much

The lost conversations go on and on just like the drinks keep getting poured from a bottle that
has no bottom and somehow doesn’t run dry

I was there and I sang my song and it was the first one on the last night they were open and
In that last dream where everyone was saying goodbye not just to that soon to be destroyed
Wooden bar but to a way of life that came before or something close to that

The bartender who had been there from the start, turned out was also a singer and got up to sing and in that song she tried to put her finger on the end and why it mattered but she couldn’t because no one can, but we writers wake up in the morning and we try again anyway

How to get from here to there, somewhere between backstage and upstage, and who watches from these empty seats, will they be filled again, with the hopes of seeing behind the curtain…

I was a music director for a nightclub in Lowell Massachusetts that lasted 6 years called the “Backpoge” (2011-2017).
It was a small 100 person capacity club that was tucked down an alley on a canal in the downtown grid, it offered no food, or TVs, well there was one but it was off almost all the time, just drinks and bands.
1300 shows later it closed its doors for reasons I won’t get into here. But, If you’ve been a witness to the great intersections of many people (bands) patrons (music lovers) and circumstances, in this case, a club just “out of the way” enough to not attract the wrong kind of attention, then you know that such things, historically, don’t last for that long. The flash and they sizzle, they become and embody “the thing.” And then they promptly roll over and die.

Frankly, I was surprised it lasted 6 years given so many challenges and from so many places.
But the people came. And the bands came. And there was a lot of music.
And there was a lot of drama.
Bartenders, patrons, musicians, locals, suburbanites that left their enclaves for a night in the dangerous city: it was the Backpage.

There was no shortage of story telling, gossip, new music debuts, open mic fiascos, romantic rendezvous, the occasional gun (don’t worry, no one ever got shot), over drinking, and general mayhem that goes with keeping the train on the tracks.
It was loose.

Despite booking the music there I would only play there with my band once a quarter but I would always jump at the chance to play with my friends though as you can see below, playing with Toni Lynn Washington).

The Backpage closed its doors in April of 2017, yet the sign still hangs above the door and I don’t know why. Some questions go unanswered.

Tickets and details

A college teacher played “The Wrong Things” for a small group of 1st year college students and had them write about it.
I’ve posted their thoughts below.


Why?

A lot has changed in 3 years. Politics, covid, environmental armageddon, financial scandals, and the “great reset,” aside, I wrote the song from a basic perspective, “right” vs. “wrong” so that they might apply it to what they see. I believe in people’s ability to figure things out and come to conclusions, even if it takes a little bit of time (and reading and more importantly, listening).

The song, The Wrong Things by Evan Goodrow, is about the wrong things he
knows and thinks of. The wrong things he is talking about, in my opinion, are the
immoral and cowardly happenings going on in this world, and points out how they are
false, evil, or criminal, but nobody talks about them. Everyone perceives that the world
is self-centered and greedy to achieve something they want as you can see “if we’ve got
the love then it’s all we’re ever going to need to build something greater than” and
“everyone knows about the wrong things.” Like an accomplice, they shake their hands
in silence, do not say anything, hide about their wrong things such as crime or sin in
order to survive and become a greater, better person, looking at “everyones guilty if you
tell it that way, that’s shaking hands with the wrong things.” However, “someday those
wrong things they might disappear” helps me to understand that all of these wrong
things are something not important, valuable at the end of the world, which will
completely disappear. I really enjoyed listening to this music and interpreting the lyrics.
Before I tried to think and analyze the lyrics, I had no idea what he wanted to convey
about the “wrong things.” However, after I read it, and listened to it again, I was able to
think that he wanted to tell how the world is corrupted, and I really liked how he
contained a lot of meanings in one word, wrong things.

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I think the main idea of the song is to let the voice been heard. And stop to spread wrong
information.
This makes me think of the internet environment nowadays, because it is very easy to spread a
wrong information on the website, the truth is become harder to be heard by people. Because
people are mostly love to see the dramatic happening, so they were more likely to view the
dramatic information but maybe wrong.
Personally saying, I love this song. First of all, it has a very nice melody, and it’s really easy to
remember. Which means the information contains in the song will be spread to many people.
Second, I think the words of the songs are talking about the truth and singing it out is a good way
to express what does the singer wanted to say, and it makes a good point because the words are
not in an offensive way.

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I thought “The wrong things” in this song was about something new or making mistakes.
The first reason is because he says “We worry about the wrong things Use excuses to not
spread our wings” and I felt like this sounds people are scared of trying new things and making
mistakes.
Especially about “Use excuses to not spread our wings”, it could make sense if it was talking
about making mistakes. people tend to use excuses when they try new things because they are
afraid of making mistakes.

Also, “Someday those wrong things they might disappear The wrongs things Are still the wrong
things” I thought if we replace “wrong things” with “something new”, it would be like, “new
things at that time will be considered old someday for sure, but there always will be new
inventions instead.”.
Overall, I like this song since the lyrics are too vague to interpret the meaning of this music very
deeply and I felt that makes the song interesting.

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I would say the central theme of this song is a conflict between countries (war) or violence
because he sings we need love, and everyone knows it is wrong. Furthermore, he says that
someday we might forget about the wrong things, but these are still wrong. I felt this part means
that people discuss the wars or just something that people think is wrong for now, but if time
passes, we will forget about these things.
I like other students’ ideas that this song is about challenging new things. I like this idea
because we fear it when we try something new. This part suits the lyrics.
I like this song or the theme because we can find many main themes for each of them. Then
if he sings about the war of conflicts in the world in this song, I prefer how he expresses it
because it is poetic and composed of simple words.

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I think this song has a meaning dissatisfaction about the world. He is keep singing about
the confuse and wrong of the people and the world. He has a desire about change the world
better than now. I really like this song. It looks like extremely negative, but all true and we are
following this situation even if we recognize something is going wrong. Also, he seems like try
to get real love through world which he doesn’t have a satisfaction. I really agree these
sentences which the other group analyze about this song (Everyone knows that there are so
many immoral and cowardly happenings going on in this world)
everyone knows about the wrong things), We may not try to do something new or reach some goal because we are afraid
of making mistakes (a.k.a the wrong things). People in the world look at different things with
different eyes. There is no wrong thing, only things that are not understood.

________________________________

For you, there are bad things and good things. Your commitment is to concentrate on the
right things. Your right thing could be wrong for somebody and vice versa. Surround yourself
with the right people, connections, and decisions. And one day, you will become the right
person.
When I heard a song, I remembered a citation from Epictetus. “What disturbs and alarms man
are not the things, but his opinions and fancies about the things.”
The meaning is that we need to focus on the “right” things. But what if
I will miss something in the “wrong” things.


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I think the wrong thing means doing something that others think is wrong or isn’t right in human
values. In this song, I think it means that war is a mistake that human-made. Every country wants
to hide the truth and the reasons behind the war but the mistake won’t be erased even if we delete
the word on the books. We all know that we did the wrong things and can’t change the truth. The
only thing we can do is to love everyone in the world because love is the strong power of a
human.
This song is great and the singer did a good job at the lines, but these kinds of songs are not my
type.

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In a relationship, men and women who get along deceive each other, making
what was a very strong emotion disintegrate in a time of doubt. Men do not
come forward to explain and save. Women also just unilaterally speculate in
the information of life. Everyone wears a mask, knowing full well that the
relationship will break down, but no one can stop it. In the end all of
this becomes a remorseful mistake.
There are three reasons that make me think so.
First of all, “The wrongs things are still the wrong things.”, you can
feel from this sentence that this mistake is hidden, it is a mistake that
is kept quiet. All know but do not want to talk about it.
Second
“How can a man stand up or a woman be heard in this ocean of
message. There’s people that love us and others that don’t know our name
If the message is louder than the voice that carries it
others will hear it and come running” This paragraph illustrates the
problem in more detail for both and the escalating form of these problems.
Conflicts between couples can arise into serious problems such as domestic
violence, which happen to be invisible and inaudible to most people.
The third point is the rhythm of the tune, which is plaintive and deep,
like poetry, telling a story, very poignant.
I like it because this kind of song is quite harmonious as a whole.

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I think the author’s main idea is to accept the imperfections of the world.
I think the author is telling the audience that there are things that people don’t understand in this world, and there are also things that people need to change. We need to accept these so-called “wrong things” and change them with love and tolerance, just like a clam polishing the sand into a pearl with its gentleness. And there are a lot of things that are misunderstood in this world, so the person who came up with this idea was criticized. This kind of thing happens in every generation. In the past, women were considered to be the appendages of men, we were not allowed to show our faces, let alone wear skimpy clothes, and any woman who challenged the authority of men would be despised by people. But now most women have the same rights and status as men. So the world is accepting something that is considered “wrong.”

The thrill is in the conversation

Playing with other musicians, the spontaneity of what will happen next,
The rehearsal went well but what will happen when you’re in the moment?

When onstage you start mind melding with the audience
Will you remember the hits or will you only have your ears to go on?

How much can you listen, separate and still be a part of the band? the players? The song? Your life?

The thrilling aspect of the conversation is revealed when it has no agenda
Other than to find the next subject and to continue the interaction…

The brilliance in spontaneous music is that it’s no different than a great conversation.