A few years ago I had this musician friend, a bass player. He was the best. We worked together and drank together, and played many games of chess, too. He got me work and I got him some too. Back in the day I played at being a cook and so was Eric.
But mostly he was a musician.
One time his band had a gig downtown at a bar I used to go to. This was when I was married. I would get off work and have a drink. This night however, my beautiful bride and I were out having a fine time, so we went to see Eric.
The band had played a set and was going back on stage for the next. Someone asked if they would play Melissa, by the Allmen Bros. The lead said he didn’t know the words. Eric stepped up and said he did.
Cigarette in hand he walked onto the stage and waited for his band to follow. They tuned for a minute, then struck up the song. Some one asked Eric if he wanted them to take his cigarette. No reply. He looked at the band and rolled the cigarette out between his fingers. The butt stayed there throughout the entire song.
I heard some one say, “Is he gonna sing that song? He’s black.” A friend must have shushed him up. Eric never opened his eyes during the song.
He sang that song with so much feeling, I could almost feel her loss. Though I don’t know the story behind the song, I felt a whole new level of feelings for it.
This happened many years ago, yet I still remember it, even though I’d had a few that night. It was one of the last times my former wife and I had fun together.
Eric and I drifted apart. I made a few bad decisions. I am not sure about him, but he seems to be doing fine now.
Facebook is a funny thing, some one posted something that came up on my page and I thought it was interesting so I followed her link to her home page. Her page pic was a woman and a guy who looked familiar. You can guess the details. To put it shortly, it turned out to be Eric. We friended each other.
olc
