Ah….The Tavern on Open Mike Night
Thursday night open mike, Park Tavern Medicine Park. A neighbor returns from his brother’s funeral and steps up to the mike. He sings his brother’s favorite song, “Honky Tonk Angel” with a broken hearted voice. Another Parkie r
eturns after fighting for his life a year longer than his Oklahoma doctors gave him (thanks to Texas doctors and stem cell therapy). He would sing if he could but he is not yet strong enough. Other musicians take their spot at the mike and without dedicating the songs to him, play and sing his favorite Johnny Cash songs. He sings quietly to himself. One of those is Les, a long time Parkie fixture, dressed handsomely in his fanciest cowboy duds with his signature patch over one eye and proud Stetson hat on his head. He sings songs I have heard a zillion times but they ring truer with that yodel that you hear from only the best cowboy singers.
The next night at the Tavern Mark, a park ranger, returns from fighting the fires in California. His family is much relieved and so is the town.
And it is just another night at the Tavern where we collect all the hugs and pats on the back we can get and steel ourselves with the support of those around us.
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Music, Philosophy. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
