Nothing in particular, just stuff that collects in a house that has been lived in for some time: photographs of people I didn’t know, little mementos adding depth to the guy I knew only as Harold the Drummer. I had never been so close to a real instrument. “Come on, you can check out my room.” My feet followed him but my eyes stayed on his drums.
He wasn’t precious about his drums by any means, but it was clear he didn’t want some out of control monkey thrashing them to pieces. I guess every kid who visited Hal asked it and he learned to avoid it by not making eye contact with his drums or his guest, and keeping a steady pace toward the door. My next question hung in the air unspoken. Hal’s house was near the light on the Spartanburg end of town, a nice little red brick tract home of the type that was common in the Upstate at that time. There were only two traffic lights on Highway Nine as it cut through Boiling Springs - one on either end of town. I’m not sure if she knew my mother or if it was just a Southern nicety. His mother arrived and we piled into the car. Besides, I liked Paul Rogers better in Free.” But every asshole in a pink Izod plays that song over and over.
They were the first band Zeppelin signed to Swan Song. The opening riff was greeted by various hoots and raised fists. “A sparkling conversationalist,” Hal said. Lindsey moved out of his sight line and he relocated to another table. I bet her pussy smells like roses,” Chuck said. Chuck the Magnificent sat down next to Hal. We sat and watched The Untouchables, talked about Vonnegut and Hunter S. I drink the first cup, then you get the refill.” Hal gave me the sad stare of a veteran of the long con who has to explain the simplest of grifts to the rube. It made The Untouchables shake their Calvins so it wasn’t completely without merit, but wriggling butts aside a man can only take so much “Funky Town.” I dropped in four quarters and selected four times the only song on the jukebox with a pair of big hairy balls. He was right - the box was loaded with top forty dreck. It’s all Commodores and shit like that.” I looked anyway. Not in attendance? The Guys In Black Tee Shirts Who Jam. No stainless steel and formica, no red vinyl booths, but Time Out had a jukebox and was packed with kids: Chuck the Magnificent and his buddy David The Untouchables with their Calvins and their Gloria Vanderbilts the junior high football team. Stay gold, June Bug!Īrnold’s wasn’t too far off as analogies go. I didn’t know what yellow jackets were and I didn’t know June Bug and I didn’t know Time Out, so the whole incident was truly mythic in my mind - sort of Outsiders meets Arnold’s Diner from Happy Days. Well, legendary to me at least since June Bug overdosed on yellow jackets and freaked out, or so the story went. I was a school bus kid, so this was my first time in the legendary junior high hangout. Hal and I walked over to Time Out after school and waited for his mother.
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