I love coffee shops.  It was love at first sight.  In 1970 I began my two year tenure in Tokyo.  I was twenty one.  That the social environment was alien to a kid from Durham North Carolina is an understatement.  Then I discovered Fugetsudo coffee shop in Shinjuku.  It no longer exists, as one would imagine.  1970 was a long time ago.  The photo was taken from the mezzanine level.  Fugetsudo was  a starkly illuminated, cavernous, and a frankly dingy room.  The coffee was stronger than Starbucks and pricy for the time, around $1.50 a cup. Over the next two years I spent hours there, studying the Japanese language, meeting with friends, and just being.  Coffee shops are a place to “just be.”  Fugetsudo was a hangout for the expats.  It was rumored that Yoko Ono came from time to time.  I never saw her.

All of these memories flooded back a few days ago while at Beans & Leaves Coffee Shop in Long Grove.  The evening was dedicated to philosophizing, mindful discussion about the

effect of music and lyrics upon those present.  The small shop was packed out.  Two well respected musicians performed, Chuck Jennings and Robinlee Garber.  Within the circle,

 

 

intimately seated, the tunes and lyrics penetrated deeply.  Carefully asking, answering, and speculating regarding the texture of life with our two song writer-performer guests—discussion continued for two hours.

I knew that I was home.

 

 

For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,….

….or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts.

  T. S. Eliot  The Dry Salvages