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Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 132

July 28, 2020 //  by Tommy Hensel//  Leave a Comment

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A musical interlude.

Some days, I run across a song that says what I’m thinking far more eloquently than I could. One of my new favorite bands is an amazing group called The Arcadian Wild. If you haven’t discovered their music, I highly recommend looking them up. This time in quarantine has given me a huge amount of unencumbered time to dive into the rabbit hole of Spotify to discover new-to-me groups, and this is the favorite of my newly-discovered bands.

Spoiler alert – I am going to book this group for my theater if there’s any way I can make it happen.

Anyway, while listening to their catalogue, I ran across the following song. Today, this sums up how I feel as I labor at my job and wonder just why I am doing what I am doing. All of my work – job, volunteer, whatever – it feels utterly futile to me sometimes, and “The Anthem of Mr. Dark” puts a finger on some of the same things I am feeling today.

I will link to a YouTube audio at the end of the lyrics.

THE ANTHEM OF MR. DARK
By The Arcadian Wild

I never have the time to do the nothing that I want to do
I’m always rushing around being what other people want me to be
Well, the fabric of my soul is frayed and falling apart at the seams
I’m tied up and tied down by the strings of other people’s dreams
I’m starting to see that that isn’t me
My freedom isn’t free
All I really want is some room to breathe

CHORUS

Someday, I’ll learn to say “No!”
Find a way to lighten my load
People take possession of the pieces of my weary heart
I’ll learn to let go, and learn to say “No!

Feeling like a lion lying down behind the bars of this cage
The king of the beasts is now the king of this enclosed space
Wear and tear and worry, they’ve been drawing their lines on my face
I feel a whole lot older than my chronological age
I’m starting to see that that isn’t me
My freedom isn’t free
All I really want is some room to be me

CHORUS

Give us your time and give us your money
Just lay down your body, there’s no sense in running
Now cut off your hair and put on a tie
Just do what you’re told without wondering why
Don’t ask for a reason, no matter the season
Sit down and comply, ’cause we don’t want no free men
We’ll say what you are, decide what you’re not
You’ll go, and you’ll go, and you never will stop.

It’s only Quarantine if it comes from the Quarante province of France. Otherwise, it’s just Sparkling Isolation.

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Category: ThoughtsTag: Sparkling Isolation

About Tommy Hensel

Tommy Hensel is the Director of the Fine and Performing Arts Center at Moraine Valley Community College (www.morainevalley.edu/fpac), a position he has held since January 2008. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, he has worked for more than 35 years as a professional actor, singer, stage manager, director, and arts presenter. He holds a B.A. in music and a B.A. in communication from Florida State University and an M.A. in theater from the University of South Carolina. He currently serves as Chair of the Illinois Presenters Network and is a board member of NAPAMA. He served as co-chair of the 2018 Arts Midwest Conference and currently sits on the professional development committees of both NAPAMA and Arts Midwest.

Prior to his move to Chicago, Tommy was an 11-year resident of the Seacoast region of New Hampshire where he served as Executive Director of the Rochester Opera House and sat on several non-profit arts boards. He has served on grant review panels for the New England Foundation for the Arts, New Hampshire Arts Council, Vermont Arts Council, and Illinois Arts Council. During his years as an arts presenter, he has also served on the juried showcase panels for the Arts Midwest Conference and Performing Arts Exchange.

Among his many theater credits, Hensel was the founding artistic director of the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival (now part of the Gamut Theatre Group in PA). He has over 50 professional directing credits to his name and an extensive resumé as a theatrical performer and cabaret singer. In Chicago, he has a side "gig" as a restaurant reviewer for The Local Tourist website (http://chicago.thelocaltourist.com) and blogs about travel and food at https://www.tableforoneplease.com.

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