Day 14: Never let your Facebook friends decide whether you should stay in or go out

This will be a short entry, for me anyway.  It's not that I have run out of things to say (I heard a collective sigh of relief spread across the internet).  Still lots of jumbled ramblings packed tightly into my noggin but accessing them and sharing them in an articulate way could be problematic.

To paraphrase Milli Vanilli* (but this is actually me paraphrasing and not a ghost writer, which is sort of the functional equivalent of a lip syncher), blame it on the Duck, both my neighborhood dive bar and the other Duck, and four Absolut and tonics with lime.**   Usually, the Duck has the perfect mix of older folks and  kids whose ids that I'd be checking before serving them a coke.  By older folks, I mean my age and usually older.  It creates an interesting dynamic in so far as song choices and finding common ground.   For instance, old and young always unite and sing along with Sweet Caroline by Neil "the Jazz Singer" Diamond, with the addition of lyrics added on by the kids that make us older folk look askance.  Where Neil sang "good times have never been so good," the kids add "so good, so fucking good."

But last night, I'd put the average age in the mid-20s.  (One such kid sang "Ice ice baby" by Vanilla Ice and tried to sing it ironically which could only be done if you are at least in your mid-to-late 30s).   Earlier in the evening, there were a smattering of patrons in their 50s and above but by the time of the last song, I may have been the oldest person there except the owner.   Not cool and not acceptable.  The whole point of the dive bar is the grizzled regulars who serve both as a warning that youth is fleeting and a comfort that you've still got tonight.    In between facebooking and a couple of strained emails, I sang: We belong, by Pat Benatar; Kiss me deadly by Lita Ford; You're so vain by Carly Simon; and Smoke Gets in your Eyes by the Platters.   Benatar and Ford new additions to my singing repertoire.  So, instead of feeling fabulous, I felt old and I don't know, something else that I cannot name.  Like, perhaps, my youth has flown and the best days are behind?  But that's not quite right either.  I shall give up trying to name it tonight.

Little men with tiny hammers have pounded on my head all day and into the night, trying to shape and chisel my head into some sort of monument, I think.  Word tank is empty, and I have a date with my bed and book.

 

*Milli Vanilli was a band consisting of two dudes with long braids who "sang" mellow pop in the 1980s.  Their most famous song was Blame it on the rain.  It turned out that Milli Vanilli were lip synchers but pretended that they were actually singing on their records and at concerts.  Other people had actually recorded their biggest hits like Blame it on the Rain.   The band won a Grammy and had to return it.  Several class action lawsuits were also filed on behalf of concert goers.  Now, lip synching is acceptable and even encouraged at times but then it was taboo.

**My tab was $17.00 for 4 Absolut and tonics with limes.  Even after asking the barmaid to make mine 1/2 strength, they were still stronger than drinks at other bars.  With a $10 tip, a fun (mostly) bar night for under $30.