...there's this thing, that's been following me round now for far too long....
....I was okay with it at the start, even adopted it, but too much has happened....
....it's gotta go....
.....I'm talking bout.....
.....the letter Y.....
....at the end of my name....
.....the ubiquitous....
.....mikeY.....
IT"S GOTTA GO!
....I mean, 'Y', why!?....
....sure, if you're on a personal list of loveables like my Mum and a SMALL number of some other friends, it's okay, I'll let it slide, but it's just been hanging around for far too long....
...it first appeared at the very first gig I went to check out in Canberra....there I was, after hours, underage, fresh off the bus in flannelette shirt and big purple shorts sitting near the door in case I got found out. My new mate Jimi, who'd sold the gig to me that afternoon, strolled off stage, saw me sitting there and said those fateful words....
...."I'm gonna call you MIKEY!".....
....and it stuck - he didn't even have to tell anyone about it, it just came around, became part of my Canberra identity.....
....'What is it that bothers you about it?' asked the Guru as we wandered St Germain in the early hours....
.....it's the little brother connotation, I explained, it doesn't fit in with the sophisticate city-dwelling musician image I'm trying to cultivate here....and instantly he jumped on it!....'We'll, maybe because you...'...and then the trail off....as is his want, playing with it, sending it back to me at every chance to bother and annoy me, a light jibe between friends....
....the other thing is, with my last name, it just doesn't swing. 'Mike Guy', two syllables, accented quarter notes, a product, almost catchy..... but 'Mikey Guy'? it's the triplet with the accents on '1' and 'a', that extra third, awkward loping syllable in the middle, like 'Hokey Boy' or 'Country Hick'....
.....consequently it's especially irritating in a professional context, being announced on gigs as such, being introduced at gigs and bars.....indeed, that same weekend, after repeatedly telling another friend to drop it, I'm dashing off stage into the darkness after the set and he announces me to the Paris audience as Mikey and straightaway the Guru is at me with it!....
....people might have got it from my email addresses, which I've recently changed so that doesn't happen, but it's STILL happening, with people that never knew me from Canberra and never had my email address!....
....IT JUST HAPPENS!....
.....will it ever leave me!? Will this urban sophisticate persona actually triumph? or will I forever be stuck with it and it's connotation, everyone's little brother?.....
The 'Y' must die!
1 comment:
Maybe you need to go the whole hog - back to the full name you were christened - 'Michael' (i know, i was there). then if people want to shorten it, they might be more likely to use 'Mike' as the preferred shortened version. just a thought.
the old man
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