The ORIGINAL CELEBRATED curiously strong MINT
Heya all!
It has been awhile, I have been mad slackin on this l.j.
Here I sit watching my sweet girl slumber as I jam out to "legion of mary" a BETA version of the J. Garcia Band.
It is jazzy an sick. Humour me in an unrelated but for me important story. I was tending bar (as I tend to do) earlier this week,and it was for on all accounts a pretty "Dead" night.
On such nights I usually pop tunes in the Jukebox that I normally would not play when our "clientelle" *cough drunk mill workers * cough * come in. There would not even be that many songs that i would enjoy had I not put a couple of my own discs an compilations. One of which included alot of "listener friendly" DEAD. Well included on this was Wharf Rat, which moves me to tears. So after finally managing to coax a few rumpled and uncooperative bills into the ancient bill changer ( which probably consists of an under payed midgett inside the juke box accepting payment and finding and playing your selection) I played a variety of tunes the last of which being wharf rat. After doing so I make my way behind the bar to find that my roommate pat's father bill is seated @ the end of the bar ( as he has been so many times before). Bill is (in all respects) the town Drunk. A lifer to the area That has worked in the same paper mill probably since he was old enough to.
Anyone his age that has put in that many years at the mill,
would be sitting pretty well off by this point in life. (He may be in his mid 40's at most but he looks much older)
But alchohol has managed his entire life. He is a repeat offender Drunk driver, twice divorcee'beaten man.
Don't get me wrong I am very found of him. He is a very nice man. But after watching him passed out on my bar at least 4 times a week my view becomes distorted.
As I am watching him fumble through his balled up sweaty wad of cash and spill his change across the counter and floor ( he is already "quite tight" ) Alot of these ideas occured to me that really had'nt before. I am after all the bartender. The confident. The non- judging. The friend to all. The enabler.
And as I Studied him in the pale dingy glare of the barlight
Wharf rat began to play on the jukebox. I never took my eyes of of him that whole time, even while flinching back tears of confusion and anxiety that were more for myself than bill.
How easy it can be to fall from grace. How easy it can be to become lost and almost comfortable in that palce. Standing stagnant and wilted as the world flowers and continues on without you. And as the world slowly forgets you and you are reduced to a shadow of what was once a man.
"But I'll get back
on my feet someday
The good Lord willing
if He says I may
'cause I know the life I'm
livin's no good
I'll get a new start
live the life I should....." R. Hunter
It has been awhile, I have been mad slackin on this l.j.
Here I sit watching my sweet girl slumber as I jam out to "legion of mary" a BETA version of the J. Garcia Band.
It is jazzy an sick. Humour me in an unrelated but for me important story. I was tending bar (as I tend to do) earlier this week,and it was for on all accounts a pretty "Dead" night.
On such nights I usually pop tunes in the Jukebox that I normally would not play when our "clientelle" *cough drunk mill workers * cough * come in. There would not even be that many songs that i would enjoy had I not put a couple of my own discs an compilations. One of which included alot of "listener friendly" DEAD. Well included on this was Wharf Rat, which moves me to tears. So after finally managing to coax a few rumpled and uncooperative bills into the ancient bill changer ( which probably consists of an under payed midgett inside the juke box accepting payment and finding and playing your selection) I played a variety of tunes the last of which being wharf rat. After doing so I make my way behind the bar to find that my roommate pat's father bill is seated @ the end of the bar ( as he has been so many times before). Bill is (in all respects) the town Drunk. A lifer to the area That has worked in the same paper mill probably since he was old enough to.
Anyone his age that has put in that many years at the mill,
would be sitting pretty well off by this point in life. (He may be in his mid 40's at most but he looks much older)
But alchohol has managed his entire life. He is a repeat offender Drunk driver, twice divorcee'beaten man.
Don't get me wrong I am very found of him. He is a very nice man. But after watching him passed out on my bar at least 4 times a week my view becomes distorted.
As I am watching him fumble through his balled up sweaty wad of cash and spill his change across the counter and floor ( he is already "quite tight" ) Alot of these ideas occured to me that really had'nt before. I am after all the bartender. The confident. The non- judging. The friend to all. The enabler.
And as I Studied him in the pale dingy glare of the barlight
Wharf rat began to play on the jukebox. I never took my eyes of of him that whole time, even while flinching back tears of confusion and anxiety that were more for myself than bill.
How easy it can be to fall from grace. How easy it can be to become lost and almost comfortable in that palce. Standing stagnant and wilted as the world flowers and continues on without you. And as the world slowly forgets you and you are reduced to a shadow of what was once a man.
"But I'll get back
on my feet someday
The good Lord willing
if He says I may
'cause I know the life I'm
livin's no good
I'll get a new start
live the life I should....." R. Hunter