Fuck That Shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!
04.23.06 (3:35 am) [edit]Fun gig tonight, much better than I'd hoped for. We even ended up getting paid better. It's an old bar with a new owner (a guy who likes us a lot already, used to see us elsewhere in town) and we played their grand opening. Place was fuckin' packed. They seemed to really like us, we got a ton of nice comments between sets and afterwards, and he raved about us all night.
We did good too. We didn't really kick in until late in the night, but it was solid all around. I finally got my voice back after two shitty weeks, and absolutely nailed everything I sang. I only did one solo tune, Heart Of Gold, but we also did Cinnamon Girl, (I sing the high part, and I've never done it better than tonight) and there's few things I enjoy more in this band than singing harmony behind Mark on Jumping Jack Flash. I cranked the treble up on the amp during the last set and really dug in, and we pretty much rocked like a motherfucker.
Lots of women. Few I was interested in, but man there were a few. A couple killer, killer brunettes, probably around 30, both dancing throughout our last set. Another brunette, a rather big but very pretty girl in her late 20s maybe, was there for the last few tunes, and yeah, I like them big asses. Nice, honey. Very nice.
Cool surprise afterwards. The back end of the place looks out across an alley to a factory I worked at during a summer in college, my dad was the corporate pilot for them for years. A block away is a convinience store i used to go to. I felt like something quick to munch on, and when I saw the store, I wondered...
I walked in. Sure enough, there he was.
"Fuckin' Abe!!!"
I hadn't seen him in at least six years. I always thought of Abe as the crazy punk-metal guy. Always in leather and chains, hair everywhere, a really scary looking motherfucker, but one of the nicest guys I've ever known. Fucking NUTS, but a very cool guy. I remember him handing me a tape he'd made me and saying, "You'll get a kick out of this. It's entertaining." My introduction to GG Allin. Pleasant, heart-warming toons from the center of sickness. I need to find that damn tape now.
He's worked at that same damn place on third shift for at least ten years. He used to come into our singer's old record store, and I used to visit him at the convinience store at 3AM after getting off work delivering pizza. I'd stand there by the door until the crack of dawn talking music with him, keeping him company so he wouldn't be alone with the crackheads who came in at those wretched hours. Not that it would have mattered. He carried at least half a dozen weapons at all times, including a shotgun under the counter in case of...uh...emergency? Sometimes I wondered if he was looking for an excuse to whip the fucker out. I don't think he would actually ever try to hurt someone unless they were after him first, but I KNOW that crazy bastard enough to know he'd blow a load in his pants if he got the chance to scare the shit out of somebody. Nutty fuck. If I ever write my novel, he's gonna be a character in it.
It was funny, though. He didn't have the leather on. just normal store-cashier stuff. Still has the biker/punk-approved hair and beard, but now he has glasses. He's gained weight. Holy shit, he looks almost...normal? Nah, he's still Abe. but it has to be as domesticated a version of him as I could ever have imagined. And he was glad to see me too. "I thought you were in Cincinnati! Where the hell you been, man?"
I told him i'd try to stop back in next weekend since we have two gigs in town and I'll be staying at my parents' with Katie. I didn't stay more than two minutes this time since I wanted back home. I'm going to sleep now, get maybe fur hours or so and go down to Cincy. but I sure am glad I saw Abe again. I missed that guy.
Today's drive music was Roy Harper's HQ, the Cure's Standing On The Beach, a Roky Erickson best of, Deep Purple's Machine Head, and Metallica's And Justice For All. Tonight's beer - Pabst Blue Ribbon. Nice and cold. If there's one thing I can't fucking stand, it's warm beer! Makes me fuckin' puke!
In dreams I walk with you,
Dougie