You just gotta read'em all!
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I have trouble pinpointing that exact moment just outside JUNKERS TAVERN... It was a cold winters night of the type that made your breath look like a big smoke cloud when you exhaled. The occurrence took place in their small gravel/pebble type parking lot adjacent to the building... But all of that is not really important to this particular SongStory. What is important is that what did happened in just a handful of minutes outside JUNKERS in that lot did, in fact, happen... and it was important enough and special enough to stick with me and survive to this point, to this vector of the dirty, shallow, gravel lined puddle that calls itself life.
JUNKERS TAVERN, home of the nicotine stained chandelier... It may not be my official 'home-bar' (which is currently THE COMET and my number one choice of the bar that embodies the spirit of my being) bit it is a special place. If you choose to believe in such things as 'home-bars' then JUNKERS would be my 'secret home-bar' (don't tell anyone). My home-bar away from home-bar. My last resort. My back-up. When the war hits, I will stand strong and united with mein comrades at The Comet, but if that should fail, the survivors will have a fall-back location and make a last stand at JUNKERS. THE COMET will be where victory will be launched from. JUNKERS will be where we die.
I heard a saying in the circuits and run-a-rounds of life concerning dogs and how they don't shit in their own yards. Interesting enough... I consider JUNKERS one of my yards. Is JUNKERS dangerous? Sure it is, but that's not because there's been stories in all the press about shootings (yes, as in more than one) there. In one of those stories, JUNKERS patrons carrying concealed weapons thwarted an attempted robbery of the establishment. That doesn't spell out DANGER to me. I find comfort in this knowledge and know-how that those around me can seize control of a situation that usually turns out bad for a guy wanting to drink a beer and have a shot of whiskey. I have performed as a member of THE SOCIALS there several times, I even recited poetry there before and have even been there as a spectator. There may be an elevated sense if danger there from time to time in many different forms, but I don't feel at danger being there. Is JUNKERS dirty? No more dirty than any other place in mein eyes. Pshaw! Dirt is relative bitches! Yeah, that chandelier didn't get stained just because... There may be a smoking ban in public places in Ohio but JUNKERS has not readily acknowledged that rule. JUNKERS has, and continues to live, by their own rules...
As I commonly do when I'm locked into a groove of rage-building (working to make a buzz a full-on drunk) I will step out for a breath of fresh air, a lil' emprise jaunt 'emp-jaunt' . Like I said, JUNKERS does not acknowledge The State of Ohio's Public Smoking ban so the place can get pretty... thick (yeah, that's a good word to describe it). Its an olde tyme type thickness too. Since the smoking ban has taken hold, it really has made evenings at The Comet, Northside
Tavern or wherever else more livable. Its created pockets of outside adventure most places with smoke corrals (as the type at The Comet) being ripe with bonus zones of the usual bar-fare somewhere else that feels a good distance away from the bar and its certain flare. But at JUNKERS the emp-jaunt is alive and well in all its olde glory.
Scene particulars already dammed, It was during this wintery nights emp-jaunt that my attention turned to JUNKERS parking lot and the sounds coming from a rather impressive older model station wagon in its lot.
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for older station wagons like the one in question. I blame my grandpa cause he had a green/wood panel Capri station wagon that he treated like a Cadillac that he would end up getting after a thief stole his 'wagon (as he called it) and later abandoned it in one of the Carolina's... I would pilot my own 'wagon for a short period in the late 90's. It was a Red Cavalier 'Wagon and bridged the gap between my first blue Cavalier, and my second White Cavalier (named 'GoBo'). Please let the record show that I'm currently piloting my third (and final?) Cavalier, a 2002 model, this time black in color (named 'Vader')... But when I see a 'wagon, I usually take a brief moment for some reflection... So concerning this 'wagon in JUNKERS lot, with the strange sounds... The shimmying side to side movement of the 'wagon and the fogged up windows.. Well, this 'wagon had my full-attention anyway, despite being a sentimental eye catcher to begin with.
Its not what you think even though I have built you up to think that my emp-jaunt has led me to discover a 'wagon full of flesh-action going on... It was action of a different sort. The shimmying motion of the car was undoubtedly due from the car-full of occupants (which was also a contributing factor of the foggy windows-I also assume they were burning wires or contracting pink-eye(smoking pot)l which I can also appreciate. The sound was nothing more
than a car stereo blasting "Mother of Pearl" with the cars occupants singing along and dancing too.
They really did like the song too. They weren't faking. They weren't blasting the song and tying to sing along because they seen SLC PUNK and jumped onto the cool song glory train. The song, with its tongue twisting lyrics, was being sang along with perfectly with precision and confidence! I have learned few songs that I would count as some of the best ever written, and even easier to sing along with than "Mother of Pearl", and then just unleash them with or without accompaniment. I was drawn by the familiarity of the song from a distance. Then, I had paused to admire the beauty of the 'wagon and then when I had figured out exactly what was going on with the wagon and full car chorus of ROXY MUSICS "Mother of Pearl", well to day the least, I was in awe shock.
I stood there trying not to be noticed at the corner of JUNKERS where I watched the 'wagon and its occupants sing along to the words of a rather awesome song. I tried to slow down my breathing and brought my jacket collar up to my mouth so as to attempt to conceal my location... I would have loved to go over to the car and join in with the song.. But I would only have interrupted something... So I watched. I spectated. I beheld.
The audience is important. I think that it is important to be a fan also...On this evening I chose to be the audience concerning this incident. I watched, I appreciated and more importantly, I learned! But since that time, I never did figure out who was in that car. I began watching when the song was in its earliest stages, the beginning fast part with the 'whoo-ooos' and hung with the whole thing till the near end, but not the very end. Just as the ending lines were being sung, I exited. I figured on the cars inhabitants evacuating the vehicle upon the songs end and I didn't want to be caught being the creepy dude watching people smoke a joint and have a sing-a-long in their car... For that matter I didn't want to know who was in the car either. I wanted that moment, from the start, to be the beautiful mystery it ended up being to me. So my emp-jaunt was successful. I got some fresh air, was surprisingly inspired and returned to the thickness that was JUNKERS TAVERN to continue working on my rage.
And to this day, whenever I hear "Mother of Pearl" I think of that night, that car... Whoever was inside that car singing the song, they are beautiful in more ways than one. No matter who they are or what they are or what they have done, or what they will ever do.
Get the picture?
Oh Mother of Pearl I wouldn't change you for the whole world
And to this day, whenever I hear "Mother of Pearl" I think of that night, that car... Whoever was inside that car singing the song, they are beautiful in more ways than one. No matter who they are or what they are or what they have done, or what they will ever do.
Get the picture?
Oh Mother of Pearl I wouldn't change you for the whole world
OK... So go here for another installment of SONGSTORY at Faster and Louder
Then the other blogs participating in SONGSTORY for their contribtions
Blog Monster The Rung Rock-N-Roll Hoochie Koo College. Jits. Life Unseen Science
Dialed In Like A Short-Wave Radio
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