Day 6
A song that reminds me of Somewhere.
When I was 13 I went to Florida to visit my dad. On the intercostal there is a bar/restaurant called Coconuts. At the time, two guys - Josh and Dave - Collectively known as Wooden Ships and a gal named Lagailia Frasier sang 3 or 4 nights a week. My dad was seeing Lagailia - this beautiful 6 foot tall amazonian black woman with soft skin and beautiful long hair in the tiniest of braids that fell down her back and always seemed in opposing sway to her hips. And she was kind, gentle, thoughtful, and could sing - I was smitten immediately with her upon meeting her the first night my dad took me out to Coconuts. My father introduced me to all three of them before the first set of the night began.
I recall sitting there waiting intensely for music to play and watched when Josh and Dave took to the stage. At 13, as expected, I was very much about the boys and I saw Josh and thought he must be the most beautiful man I had ever seen at that time. Josh was likely about 30, dark hair and eyes, carried a youthful glow about him. Dave was the older of the two, already 41. And while he was attractive, he really was the lesser eye candy - UNTIL they took the stage and Dave sang. Josh - faded away and existed no more. Dave opened his mouth and the world shifted just a bit for me. He simply exhaled and music was born... Then I watched him play his instruments - yes. instruments. Keyboards, piano, guitar, bass guitar, flute, clarinet, and mandolin through the course of the night. He stroked and caressed each one in turn and the most amazing sounds came to flood my ears and memories.
Then... it happened.
Josh just... walked off the stage. In hind-sight I am surprised I even noticed. Leaving only Dave sitting there. He reached back and pulled a case around and leaned it against the wall to his side. He opened the case, my eyes were entirely glued to him as he pulled out the cello. While I knew what the instrument was, I had never heard it alone. Lagailia came to the stage and in her sultry soft way said that she was going to sing a song for my father...
The normal chatter of the bar died off when she spoke. I saw her lock eyes with my father for a moment then smile faintly. "The first time... ever I saw your face" - said like silk into the dark room - then I heard the cello, and Dave's soul came from him in a way I had never heard before and never heard since... I was in tears before Lagailia 'the sun rose in your eyes' - And as beautiful as she was, and as tenderly and passionately as she sang - her voice became the accompaniment track to Dave playing his cello... I fell in love with him then and there.
Later that night, when he sang my name - I felt weak in my knees.... but it wasnt my name that caused me to swoon, or even the dedication from him to me before they played Summer Breeze. It was still that cello... and Dave's soul making 'love' out of the air around me.
I will always remember The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Dave... and remember that brief night that I loved only you and I felt that you only loved me because of the music. And thus. Coconuts is also emblazoned into my heart forever and I can see it as clearly today as I did then every time I hear that song. To Dave - Where ever you may be today... Thank you.
When I was 13 I went to Florida to visit my dad. On the intercostal there is a bar/restaurant called Coconuts. At the time, two guys - Josh and Dave - Collectively known as Wooden Ships and a gal named Lagailia Frasier sang 3 or 4 nights a week. My dad was seeing Lagailia - this beautiful 6 foot tall amazonian black woman with soft skin and beautiful long hair in the tiniest of braids that fell down her back and always seemed in opposing sway to her hips. And she was kind, gentle, thoughtful, and could sing - I was smitten immediately with her upon meeting her the first night my dad took me out to Coconuts. My father introduced me to all three of them before the first set of the night began.
I recall sitting there waiting intensely for music to play and watched when Josh and Dave took to the stage. At 13, as expected, I was very much about the boys and I saw Josh and thought he must be the most beautiful man I had ever seen at that time. Josh was likely about 30, dark hair and eyes, carried a youthful glow about him. Dave was the older of the two, already 41. And while he was attractive, he really was the lesser eye candy - UNTIL they took the stage and Dave sang. Josh - faded away and existed no more. Dave opened his mouth and the world shifted just a bit for me. He simply exhaled and music was born... Then I watched him play his instruments - yes. instruments. Keyboards, piano, guitar, bass guitar, flute, clarinet, and mandolin through the course of the night. He stroked and caressed each one in turn and the most amazing sounds came to flood my ears and memories.
Then... it happened.
Josh just... walked off the stage. In hind-sight I am surprised I even noticed. Leaving only Dave sitting there. He reached back and pulled a case around and leaned it against the wall to his side. He opened the case, my eyes were entirely glued to him as he pulled out the cello. While I knew what the instrument was, I had never heard it alone. Lagailia came to the stage and in her sultry soft way said that she was going to sing a song for my father...
The normal chatter of the bar died off when she spoke. I saw her lock eyes with my father for a moment then smile faintly. "The first time... ever I saw your face" - said like silk into the dark room - then I heard the cello, and Dave's soul came from him in a way I had never heard before and never heard since... I was in tears before Lagailia 'the sun rose in your eyes' - And as beautiful as she was, and as tenderly and passionately as she sang - her voice became the accompaniment track to Dave playing his cello... I fell in love with him then and there.
Later that night, when he sang my name - I felt weak in my knees.... but it wasnt my name that caused me to swoon, or even the dedication from him to me before they played Summer Breeze. It was still that cello... and Dave's soul making 'love' out of the air around me.
I will always remember The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Dave... and remember that brief night that I loved only you and I felt that you only loved me because of the music. And thus. Coconuts is also emblazoned into my heart forever and I can see it as clearly today as I did then every time I hear that song. To Dave - Where ever you may be today... Thank you.