Author’s Note:
After you read the story click on the words new song for a song that in all likelihood will be new to you.
***
The sign that said Sold Out wasn’t a novelty anymore.
There was a new song languishing in a limbo of time constraints and pressures, and the bitter novelty of that limbo had worn off as well.
Ben popped a mood stabilizer.
They were prescribed, just not in the daily amount he ingested.
He had a claustrophobia of circumstance.
Andrew’s new girlfriend swung at Steven’s fiancee over some spat that involved guest lists and egos.
Someone from management counted the porcelain white towels, folded like they were meant to be the foundations of the Parthenon.
The club sold hoodies. Ben bought one to sneak out.
When he pulled the drawstring tight around his face he realized he had crossed an unspoken barrier of which one day he’d probably speak.
A girl near the entry line asked “doesn’t anyone have two extra tickets? I have cash!” and to Ben her voice sounded like she was asking for insulin for her child.
Across the freeway from the club there was a casino where people yanked and rolled and spun on hopes and dreams and elusive wealth.
Ben had an uncle that burned through three marriages at a craps table.
Til death do us part.
Ben knew the casino floor could be the loneliest crowded place on earth.
He’d find the loneliest person there, someone who just needed something, anything. He would invite them to the show.
He wasn’t exactly sure what loneliness looked like, but he felt that when he saw the person’s eyes, he’d taste blood in his own mouth.
***
The story and the linked song aren’t directly connected but they are indirectly connected in a few ways.
Recently I performed on the same bill as Ethan Daniel Davidson at a show at Third Man Records in Detroit. Third Man is a music retail store, vinyl record pressing plant and performance space owned by Jack White. (I know many of you reading this know that, but for those that don’t…)
The theme of the show was mental health and was organized by musician/actor Dan John Miller in honor of his late brother Michael, an artist, writer and musician who lost his life due to mental illness.
I wanted an excuse to share Ethan’s song My Crows, which Ethan performed at the show and since Please Welcome is about a musician struggling with his mental health…yeah, you get it.
Thanks for reading (and listening).
*** Photo Courtesy of Getty Images
An achingly beautiful story, on a day that is painful for many people, for a variety of reasons, and My Crows is the perfect inspiration/companion.
Generosity and care!