Five Strings
Music, Attraction and a Temporarily Chaste Caress
His amp crackled. Not natural distortion, a bad cable or loose jack.
At the end of the last song, he had broken a string.
There were no other guitars on stage.
Emily looked at her quarter-full drink, some fire engine red thing that was on special for three bucks. She thought seriously about grabbing another while the guy changed his string or borrowed a guitar from the headliner.
“This song’s called Sleepwalk,” he said and kicked into the song without a B string.
The song, antithetical to its name, sped through chord changes and held a taut melody as if the grip were released the whole bar would get sucked into the ether.
She had stood up front to be polite. She did that often, remembered when no one gave a fuck about her music, or her, for that matter.
The performance, the songs, the sweat had pulled more people up front with her.
The guy caressed that Telecaster like it was a dog that just pulled another vintage guitar from a burning apartment.
She wondered, like a sneeze out of nowhere, if he knew who she was, or would care.
She wondered (and laughed at herself while wondering), how he’d respond to an offer to play some songs back at her house with her, maybe crash in the guest room.
Sleepwalk ended, and as the applause died down some drunk screamed “Play some Husker Du!”
It was meant to be a compliment, Emily figured. The guy blistered like Mould.
The guy on stage, Jerry something, the flyer said, rested his pick hand on the mic. He smiled. It might have been a snarl.
“I love Husker Du. But they’re not here. Grant’s only with us in spirit. You’re stuck with me and this song’s called…”
The tips of Emily’s fingers tingled.
This song, she thought, is called Skip the Guest Room.
***
A few questions:
Have you ever found yourself attracted to a performer solely based on a live performance? Not someone you were a fan of and bought a ticket to see specifically, but someone you weren’t previously aware of performing in a bar or music theater?
If you had written this story, what band would you have chosen to showcase? (What band would the drunk have yelled out?)
***
Photo Courtesy of Getty Images
1. never, although the two stepsisters backing troy gregory were kind of cute.
2. given he played "sleepwalk", i'd say do your best dave alvin and give me vintage blasters.
Not an answer to your questions directly... but the first time I saw Sonic Youth I was completely mesmerized with Kim Gordon's sinewy forearms as she played base... it was all I could look at.