Music Banter - View Single Post

Anteater · 12-13-2014, 11:13 PM

Quote:

"Hey mister, you gonna keep me here all night? We're at the marina now."

Koko snapped awake to the cabbie's voice. By the smooth grace of Michael H. Christ McDonald, had he really fallen asleep in only five minutes? That weird pimp getting off earlier must have been some kind of unconscious stress relief. Either that or that last week in studio was finally catching up to him.

"Here's two fives. Have a good night."
"No problem buddy. Don't do anything tonight I wouldn't do eh?"

As the cabbie drove back toward the main drag, Koko surveyed the nearby dock and a tiki bar ahead that connected to the pier's walkway: there was a small crowd, mostly young couples. A scruffy disc jockey was setup on stage, vinyl lined up like dominoes beside him. The sun had set and nobody was sailing, but that was fine. Sometimes a good view, a few drinks and music was all you needed.

"The usual, cap'n?" asked Leroy Haus from his usual place behind the counter. He was mixing shots left and right, his eyes on the job at hand, but he knew his regulars before they even sat down.

Koko pulled up a stool. "Any Patrón back there?"

"You bet'cha."

"Let's do a Viridian tonight then. Two kiwis"

"Got'cha. Just don't tell that guy-" he motioned at the person asleep in a filthy looking jersey at the opposite end. "He owes me a tab two lifetimes couldn't make right."

Koko raised an eyebrow from behind his smooth shades. "...and you still let him drink? That's a surprise."

Leroy shrugged, sighed as he massaged his left temple with a resigned kind of irritation. "He was my brother's best mate when they served in 'Nam together. Two of a kind: Big bro Nick and Lt. Steven Harter. But Stevie there, he hasn't had work in five years. Too angry and messed up inside, can't hold anything down. Its hell watching him come here every night. But I'm afraid if I don't keep him boozed up I'll wake up one day and see his name in the obituary."

"Sounds like your trying to plug leak after leak in a boat that's destined to sink."

Leroy rolled his eyes. "Are you going to be making those stupid boat puns at me til I'm dead from cancer? Anyway-"

"Sorry Leroy, quiet a sec would ya?" Koko cut in, raising a finger.

Some disco long player had ended a minute ago, and the DJ had slipped on a new '12 record after briefly naming the group and the jam in question over his mic as Leroy had gone into Stevie's story. But despite not paying attention at first, in the space of one minute or so Koko found himself sucked in completely. This song...it was so strange...but so smooth. Who were these guys? The DJ said they were from Germany or something...

And then the lyrics came, and Koko's attention was suddenly pulled toward Steven Harter, who had stood up from his stupor at some point after the song began. Tears were running uncontrollably down his cheeks before the first chorus had run its course. As the song played out over the next ten minutes, Koko realized he felt a little misty eyed himself, a rare event under most circumstances.

"Take my life and write it down
Sure won't take much time
Won't be so much there to see
It's all between the lines.

Tried my hand at better things
Never worked out right
Spent 10 years to find the dream
Was there before my eyes

And now I try to make up for those days
Make a new start
Can't be worse than that day.
Try to forget all those times..
Make a new start
And live out the lie
And live out the lie..."

As Steven let his tears flow and the couples continued to dance (with the occasional uneasy sideward glance) and the smoothness of the jam petered off into quiet, Leroy handed Koko his drink. Koko nodded, threw in a few bucks. After an exchange of nods, the sailor-turned-wannabe singer/songwriter walked out toward the water and left the music behind him. His mood had turned around unexpectedly: seeing a broken war veteran actually start crying to the sort of music Koko loved was...actually very sombering. And yet it made him happy too.

And most importantly, it made him feel like maybe he could really pull this off for Amadeus despite his initial misgivings. If a song that smooth could come from some bunch of landlocked Krauts he had never even heard of before, who was he to feel discouraged? The talent was out there all over the world...he just had to find it. Simple as simple could be. He just had to stay focused!

He watched the water for awhile, smiling a bit without realizing it. As the stars flickered like dim apparitions above the L.A. haze, he downed his Viridian and eventually made his way along the shore toward his private boathouse. He would rest, stay positive, and prepare for the coming day ahead...

Lake - Between The Lines (from Lake, 1977)

This delicious hybrid between progressive rock and vintage L.A. jazz-rock groovage was the closing number on German rock band Lake's self titled debut from '77, and its quite a doozy truth be told. Texturally its not all that different from the kind of stuff Fleetwood Mac and Ambrosia were churning out in the first part of the early 70's, but the huge vocals of James Hopkins-Harrison and that killer interplay between the Hammond organ and that modular keyboard motif is the stuff of legends. And for those who care about lyrics, the song tells the story of a man running from a regretful past and, desperately, trying to achieve some semblance of an upstanding life despite a poisonous guilt eating him alive from the inside out. Not the typical sort of thing you run into when your looking for a disposable Anglo-funk breezer to play on your boat, but these are the gems that make this genre worth exploring and talking about.