________________________________________________________________________________________________
Beyond the green light, these cars will ascend
for the next half-mile
***
***
During my brief tenure as a married man,
there was one and only one day
when I drove to Laguna twice
It was 1985 and I was living in Vista,
approximately forty-five miles
south of Laguna
I was teaching summer school
in San Juan Capistrano
and needed some noontime sustenance
I drove up Pacific Coast Highway,
through San Clemente and just over
the peak of a long hill,
I had a revelation:
There was
a FREE parking space
in front of a Bar & Grill
After eating a burger and fries,
I asked the waiter if I could play
the baby grand piano
He handed me a bar coaster for my Budweiser,
and here comes a rock-solid truth
about my piano-playing:
I am not good enough to play
anyone else's music
but for fifteen minutes,
I can impress anyone with ears
While I was playing,
someone I never saw
comes running out of an office,
heaping praise on the pianist
He wore a pink paisley Hawaiian shirt
and asked if I would perform there
some evening
I said "Sure" and he asked
if I could play there
that evening
I drove home and assumed
my wife would go with me
back to Laguna
Unfortunately.
the intensive-care nurse
had to work that night
I returned to Laguna
but not to a free parking space
After ten minutes of looking
for one, I paid $5
and figured What the hell!
That's Show biz
and I walked eight blocks
to the Bar and Grill
I had a date
with a Baby Grand
***
***
A few dollars were dropped
into the tip cup,
with apologies from the pianist
"I don't take requests"
because I am playing
only my own music
The fifteen minute barrier
was reached and the Inevitable
reared its ornery head:
everything else sounded
the same as what
I had already played
None of the tippers
nor anyone I saw
in the Bar and Grill
was female
but Mr. Paisley Pink
—who owned the joint—
angrily approached the piano
and sent me home
Mr. Pink set a precedent:
three Chinese Restaurants
in San Diego
hired me to play piano
At none of them
did I play more than
twenty minutes
before being asked
to leave,
albeit politely
Every word of this visit
to MemoryLand
is 100% true
***
© PAUL OLIVERIO ©
Page Six is here
________________________________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment