And so we’re into one of the warmest springs in memory.
Red sky at night…
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You see I tripped across the reminder that when it was first invented existentialism became a huge fad in the popular press which led philosophers to accuse the papers of getting it all wrong sacrificing meaning for the sake of business and here’s me thinking I’ll bet the reply was if the scholarly crowd wanted existential accuracy maybe they should go peddle their own Camus. D’ya think?
Oh yeah this was gonna be some fun. It took a while to get everyone set up with enough room to work, but this was a cheerful bunch so eventually it sorted out, with much laughter in the meantime. There was a buzz in the room no question. I nodded to Josie. Always thought it was a good thing she liked me, otherwise she’d have me for breakfast. She grinned. “Haven’t seen you in a while, you ever learn how to play that thing?” “Just as bad as ever. Happily they let me stand back here with the real musicians, so everyone thinks I know what I’m doing.” “Your secret is safe with me.” I laughed and turned to my amp, dialled in a sound, mellow and round, with just a hint of bite, there’d be time to step it out later, and checked in with the rest of gang. Mcshane was ready to crank the guitar on demand, but for now our man of infinite solos was hanging out with the rest of us workin’ stiffs on the backline. For the moment we weren’t looking to the singer neither, she was off the side and ready. No, it was up to the divine Mister B to set the tone. And he didn’t disappoint. The man waited for us to pay attention, took one slow turn around the stage, finally came to stand in the centre facing us with his back to the crowd, closed his eyes for a second. Nobody moved. Felt like forever. Then it came. “Three shots, hit me!” Bam. Bam. Bam. Ain’t nothin’ like a whole band whackin’ you upside the head to get your full attention. Leonard played a mean sax, and like tenors throughout history he made you sit up and take notice from the word. And the word was wail. We set up a tight groove, red hot and rolling, and the man whipped around and rocked the joint. Two bars in and the people were howling with delight. We’re on the move, let’s open ‘er up and see what she’ll do. This was not gonna be an easy night, nope, long and hard, but worth every minute. Leonard ran us through the changes twice to set the tone. Then like a true gentleman he made perfect space for Tony and that amazing voice stepped into place, effortless and right on time. “What you want?” The focus was on the vocals, where it belonged for now, the man went and stood beside Mcshane so they could do the horn shots together. “What you need?” Sax, guitar and organ answered two times. “What you want?” Two more hits and we tightened up the groove even more, impossible not to move the crowd started jumping. “Tell me!” Sax hit it hard and wailed in the space, seamless and everyone into the shots again, two times. We took it around the turn and rode it head down and rockin’, then came the payoff. “What you need?” Full stop, everybody, no count. “Respect, yeah!!” The people roared and we took off at full throttle. Let there be freakin’ light. It just wasn’t possible but somehow we kept that energy going for what seemed like forever, maybe more. Hot grooves, wailing sax, righteous sounds. It was a wild night. Leonard and Tony pushing one another harder and higher. And just when you thought there’d be a break so you could breathe Mcshane would step up to the plate and send out a solo make you scream with joy. I remember looking up at one point seeing a houseful of happy moving to a groove supplied by a bandful of some of the finest people I’d ever had the privilege of playing with. Yeah, I thought, I could die now and be content. But first, maybe just a couple more tunes. … We had a pretty solid crew that night. The lovely and talented wonder boy Mcshane on guitar, Waites playing bass, that’d be me holding down the rhythm on the backline, we’d managed to convince the good Doctor T to haul his leslie down so we’d have that classic piece of rotating joy with him playing the organ, and you couldn’t ask for anyone better than Josie to be working the kit woman could rock hard and stop on a dime. Most wondrous of all sitting in on sax we had Mister Bill Lennie, Leonard to his friends. He’d been on the road for a long stretch, finally got time off for good behaviour bought a house and settled down. A lifetime playing because he had to to pay the bills, “and now I play when i want to.” Which was most of the time, but every musician I knew understood the difference. Oh yeah this was gonna be some fun. It took a while to get everyone set up with enough room to work, but this was a cheerful bunch so eventually it sorted out, with much laughter in the meantime. There was a buzz in the room no question. I nodded to Josie. Always thought it was a good thing she liked me, otherwise she’d have me for breakfast. She grinned. “Haven’t seen you in a while, you ever learn how to play that thing?” “Just as bad as ever. Happily they let me stand back here with the real musicians, so everyone thinks I know what I’m doing.” “Your secret is safe with me.” I laughed and turned to my amp, dialled in a sound, mellow and round, with just a hint of bite, there’d be time to step it out later, and checked in with the rest of gang. Mcshane was ready to crank the guitar on demand, but for now our man of infinite solos was hanging out with the rest of us workin’ stiffs on the backline. For the moment we weren’t looking to the singer neither, she was off the side and ready. No, it was up to the divine Mister B to set the tone. And he didn’t disappoint. The man waited for us to pay attention, took one slow turn around the stage, finally came to stand in the centre facing us with his back to the crowd, closed his eyes for a second. Nobody moved. Felt like forever. Then it came. “Three shots, hit me!” Bam. Bam. Bam. Ain’t nothin’ like a whole band whackin’ you upside the head to get your full attention. Leonard played a mean sax, and like tenors throughout history he made you sit up and take notice from the word. And the word was wail. We set up a tight groove, red hot and rolling, and the man whipped around and rocked the joint. Two bars in and the people were howling with delight. We’re on the move, let’s open ‘er up and see what she’ll do. This was not gonna be an easy night, nope, long and hard, but worth every minute. Leonard ran us through the changes twice to set the tone. Then like a true gentleman he made perfect space for Tony and that amazing voice stepped into place, effortless and right on time. “What you want?” The focus was on the vocals, where it belonged for now, the man went and stood beside Mcshane so they could do the horn shots together. “What you need?” Sax, guitar and organ answered two times. “What you want?” Two more hits and we tightened up the groove even more, impossible not to move the crowd started jumping. “Tell me!” Sax hit it hard and wailed in the space, seamless and everyone into the shots again, two times. We took it around the turn and rode it head down and rockin’, then came the payoff. “What you need?” Full stop, everybody, no count. “Respect, yeah!!” The people roared and we took off at full throttle. Let there be freakin’ light. It just wasn’t possible but somehow we kept that energy going for what seemed like forever, maybe more. Hot grooves, wailing sax, righteous sounds. It was a wild night. Leonard and Tony pushing one another harder and higher. And just when you thought there’d be a break so you could breathe Mcshane would step up to the plate and send out a solo make you scream with joy. I remember looking up at one point seeing a houseful of happy moving to a groove supplied by a bandful of some of the finest people I’d ever had the privilege of playing with. Yeah, I thought, I could die now and be content. But first, maybe just a couple more tunes.
So, just for the record, it did snow on the first day of spring. Not much, and not long. And it certainly didn’t stick around. But there was snow. art is nothing but the future calling history is nothing but the past declaiming today is nothing but the present (kb summer 2002) Uh oh there I go thinking with my mouth open again … Hey friend, how’s your day? I hope you’ve had a taste of some of the wonderful weather we’ve been having lately. They tell me it’s the official start of spring this weekend, but it’s felt almost like summer the last couple of days. Even though I wasn’t able to get out as much as I would’ve liked, it’s been nice to have it fresh enough to open all the windows and feel the warm air. Nicer still to be able to hear kids playing around the neighbourhood, spring break and good weather made it all sound just enough like summer to make it feel even a couple of degrees warmer. What a pleasure. So although some of us are still taking bets as to whether we get another late snow storm, I think we can say that it’s looking like we made it through winter. We haven’t got the green haze on the trees yet, that first sign that there really will be leaves again at some point. But the cardinal and I are quite certain that spring is on its way. And both of us can hardly wait. Apparently more than one of us feels like singing. I don’t know if you’re the same, but spring always makes me think of changes. Not changes to dread, changes to look forward to. I have no idea what changes are in store this season, and frankly there are some real challenges ahead. But I think I’m looking ahead to positive change. And when it comes I hope I can be ready with open arms. After all life is change, no? Yeah, I’m ready. Wish me luck.
90 percent of what I say people should cheerfully disregard. The other ten per cent they will happily ignore. |
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We had a pretty solid crew that night. The lovely and talented wonder boy Mcshane on guitar, Waites playing bass, that’d be me holding down the rhythm on the backline, we’d managed to convince the good Doctor T to haul his leslie down so we’d have that classic piece of rotating joy with him playing the organ, and you couldn’t ask for anyone better than Josie to be working the kit woman could rock hard and stop on a dime. Most wondrous of all sitting in on sax we had Mister Bill Lennie, Leonard to his friends. He’d been on the road for a long stretch, finally got time off for good behaviour bought a house and settled down. A lifetime playing because he had to to pay the bills, “and now I play when I want to.” Which was most of the time, but every musician I knew understood the difference.
Just a small postscript to thoughts of spring the other day. The day dawned a little cooler than the last few. A fair bit cooler actually. I was standing by the window taking in the complete lack of wind. Everything was so still. Then a single, tiny white feather fluttered down. How odd, I thought, I wonder how that came to be. And so small. A moment later another. Then another. Ah, I see.
As a rule of thumb