| |
JUST
ANOTHER SHOW
Slidewalk Sunday ambles up slowly, says he's seen me before somewhere.
I say I been around. Says he heard about me on the machine. I say I
been there too. 'But mostly', I tell him, 'I'm out here on the ground.'
He's got yellow flecks in his brown eyes and a hat, just a bit too big.
Smells like some kinda food but I can't put my finger on it. He's lookin
real stupid and standin just a bit too close but when I start to play
Stand By Me he begins to clap and he's right on the money ! ... just
on the back end of the back beat, right where I like it. So I forgive
him all the things I was thinking and I smile and sing it right into
his eyes.
There's a wife leanin on her man, givin me looks to make me think twice,
and I know it's all right, but I'm not really sure what it all means
... two girls sittin up front, laughin at 'Puff the Magic Drag Queen'
... and when I'm singing that one to the road, about taking me home,
the thing that the people don't realize is what I'm really about thinkin
about is just how good my wife looks walking across a room.
There are three young Italian girls not more that ten or twelve years
old, just as mature as if they were standin' behind the President of
the United States and two sisters holding hands and smiling at me like
they were my own. The boys are less apt to stay in one place, of course,
they point at the drum and tell each other how it works. I like to tease
them, kicking it just a bit too hard if they come too close. And although
there are times when they can be "too much" I try to keep
my respect for all God's Chillun 'til they gives me some good reason
not to ... and anyway I am well aware that these boys from the square
could one day be running the show.
Surrogate Sally comes running up. She's got dreads, a long cotton hippie
skirt torn at the hem and no shoes. "Hey Slide!" she says
in some language or another, in a voice just a bit too loud, "
You seen this guy?" She tosses her head in my direction. It's distracting
but I know she means well. Anyway I'm singing Let It Be and it really
wouldn't do to make a fuss. I just grimace and smile on the inside as
I hear Slide telling her he saw me last Sunday in a town where I've
never been.
It's getting on mid September. I've been crusin up and down this Jadran
coastline now for almost two months .... swimming in the Illyrian Sunshine
and singin my songs in the cool of the evening. But by now these early
autumnal sunsets can start to feel a little lonely and my room on the
hill which was buzzin in August is just a bit too quiet by now. I've
been playin mostly just six or seven locations, this summer. Ljubljana,
Mali Losinj, Zadar, Vodice, Krk, Rab, and Hvar. I didn't even make it
down to Dubrovnik this year.
 |
You see I've
taken this gig up in Ljubljana on September 23rd opening the show
for Boy George and his Band. Eighties Live Unforgettable it's
called.
It should
be a gas!! So I hope wherever it is you are sitting at your computer
reading this, if you are anywhere in the neighborhood of Ljubljana
on Thursday the 23rd, you'll come out to see the show. I will
be taking you up through the years and then Boy George is gonna
kick you right through the whole decade. It'll be fun!! Look forward
to seeing you there.
|
Looking
out at the crowd one last time ... I notice that Slide and Sally have
slipped away into the night. There is a couple still dancing way in
the back not even aware that the music has stopped and that wife and
her man are holding on so tight to each other that I know I'm doing
my job right. I play them that one last tune, whatever feels right,
and I bid them good night in about seven different languages, and although
I know it's not how Joni meant it, I try to leave 'em laughing when
I go.
THE NEW CD "ILLYRIAN SUN"
|
