One Friday Night
It was the beginning of the end, of the month, it was the first of December. The morning was chilly but still no snow, the afternoon had some sun which made things warm up a bit, which wasn’t bad and the evening stayed relatively cool, but not too cold. We had woken up with plans for the night, which is sometimes the best way to wake up. Gives your daily ‘journey’ an end goal.
I was typing away on my tablet, reworking some article and posting here and there to market my work, I took a sip of my coffee when my lovely fiance graced me with her presence, she majestically walked into the room; eyes squinting, greeting me with a, “Meooow.” Which loosely translates to, “Why, mornings, why! For the love of God it’s too damn early to be up!” This was the routine for us, I’m an avid morning idiot and she, eh, not so much. After a minute of her accepting the reality of the morning, she said to me, “So tonight we’re going to go to that thing and The Other Side with The Old Main, Ibela is supposed to meet us. Sound good?” I mulled it over for a good or two and decided, “Sweet beans.” “Meow, catsez.” She played with our cat, Tomcat. Tomcat oddly enough is much like myself, up and ready to go in the morning, while our dog Tony, takes after my fiance, he was tucked away deep in a cocoon of blankets after I had taken him out and made his belly full.
What was this thing that she was talking about? Well it just so happened that the band that we were booking for our wedding was getting together with some other bluegrass bands and having a small intimate concert in support of a charity organization called, Abraham House at a local non-for-profit art space called, The Other Side, which just so happened to be down the street from where we live. This was a great opportunity to not only see live music but to support local artists and local charities.
The rest of the day after went on as usual, everyone was in anticipation of getting off of work and celebrating the metaphorical and actual ‘meaning’ of Friday in their own way. We had ended up staying a little later than intended due to some over-time (good problems/bad problems to have) and rushed home. We took care of our pets. She got ready for the night and soon we were out the door.
Walking down Emerson, the road to the cafe we looked at all the beautiful Christmas decorations on all the little houses. We always liked to look at all the different homes and dream of someday when we have one, “Oh wow look at that one! That’s what I want someday, babe, a big bookshelf filled with all the best books on display.” She said to me. “Definitely, and with a little front yard garden too, that’d be sweet.” We mused as we passed the last house on the street and walked in front of the cafe.
It wasn’t exactly crowded, it wasn’t exactly not crowded. Outside there were folks having a cigarette, we saw some of the guys from The Old Main chilling in the slight cold, talking and getting ready to perform. We said a quick hello and then walked in, the minimum donation was about ten dollars each, which was not bad for getting out of the house in the winter to see a couple live bands, “There’s pizza, beer and snacks in the back.” Said the donation attendant. The venue of The Other Side was a small, long room mostly. The stage immediately to your left as you walk in, there were two rows of seat, ten rows each with an aisle in the middle. We made our way to the back, where the pizza and beer was. There was no one attending that area, just a sign reading, “Pizza, Beer, Snacks” and an assortment of chips, pretzels and cookies along with some extra-large pizzas from Slice, the local pizza joint on the same street as The Other Side, the beer, soda and water were all in coolers on the ground near the tables. “You think it’s all free?” I whispered to my fiance. She shrugged. There were quite a few people standing around popping open beer cans, eating pizza and chit chatting as the first band set up its sound system. I decided to venture in and took two seasonal Saranac beers out of the cooler and handed one to Anna and shrugged. Next I grabbed some plates and got us some pizza. We stood in the back and schmoozed with the best of them, well, with some people anyway. “Is Ibela meeting us?” I asked. Our friend was supposed to meet us out, “I don’t know she hasn’t gotten back to me.”
Before we knew it, the first band was ready. The curator of the venue got up and made a heartfelt speech on how sincere he was about the bands giving their times and how great it was for all of us to come out and support local arts and how cool it was that these types of local bands still had a following and with that, the band started up.
Now if you know me, you know that I’m more of a metal head for the most part, with interest in a lot of other funky bands and some rap, but not usually am I into bluegrass music. Mind you, I already knew that I liked our wedding band, which fall into that genre but still. That certainly changed that night. The first was a three piece; a singer who played harmonica, a guitarist and a stand-up bassist, all who have performed in, as the lead singer of The Old Main said to us, “A million and a half other bands.” Their sound, I can only describe in how it made me feel, I’m not much of a musician myself so the terminology and what not escapes me, but as I said to Anna, “This makes me feel as if we were coming up in the nineteen-thirties seeing this band for the first time in some dingy little club in St. Louis.”
Everyone was grooving and a hooting and a hollering, and really feeling the music. The band finished with a about five songs and everyone clapped. Next our wedding band started, and right away, they brought it. Their sound I would describe is somewhat ‘metal-like’ to me, as in the energy level they bring with their tempo and beats (I think that’s how you describe that) and their material that they sing about. The night was magic and at the end I thanked my fiance, “I wasn’t sure about tonight at first, but I have to say that this night was magic to me. Thank you so much, my love.” She kissed me and we went across the street to The Green Onion Pub for a drink, where we ran into an unexpected friend, our general manager from work. That however is a story for another time. In the meantime, think about this, you never know when you’re going to have a great experience, the point is to be open to the possibility, put yourself out there.
