I played the Pawn Shop gig again. I
need the money to get back into the studio. There was something missing when I
arrived, but I couldn’t put a finger on it.
“No
drummer,” Ray the keyboard player said. “He hurt his back.”
As
the bass player of the band, that’s not what you want to hear when you get to a
gig. I’ve never played a gig without a drummer. I looked at Eichenbaum the
guitar player, and he had a look of disbelief on his face. The band has three
female singers, and they didn’t even flinch with the news. It didn’t bother them at all.
I
found myself tapping my foot more than usual. I was thinking to myself, how am
I going to get through this? I looked across the street. There was an old man
with a cane waiting at the bus stop. He looked like Santa Claus in sweatpants.
He had a long gray beard. I saw him looking at me. He raised his cane and
started to dance. It was a beautiful sight. I couldn’t cheat him. I played harder after that.
Then
a pretty lady with salt and pepper hair showed up. She was watching the band,
but then disappeared. A short time later she came back holding a Hula-Hoop. She
had her boyfriend with her. He set down a lounge chair and she spun the hoop
around her waist and started to move. She had the hoop going pretty good. Her
boyfriend got up and started to dance. God-damn! I love the spirit. I dug in
even deeper with the sight of it.
The
sun had come down. It was getting dark. A young man appeared. He was wearing a
suit, but no tie. He came up to me and asked if he could play my bass. I don’t
let guys sit in unless I ask them, besides he looked like he was missing some
marbles.
He walked up to Eichenbaum and
asked if he could play his guitar. Eichenbaum gave him the look of death. The
kid disappeared after that, but to our surprise he came back holding an
amplifier, and had a gig bag around his shoulder. He found a place to plug in
and started to play. He didn’t bother to ask anybody if it was okay. Eichenbaum
was throwing Tomahawks at him with his eyes. The kid had some nerve.
He was playing pretty well. He knew all the songs. He was an idiot savant. We ended a song.
“I’m
with the band!” he shouted.
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