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May 5, 2010
The day the music (stayed up till past
midnight)
(with apologies to Don
McLean)
I almost didn’t go in. I mean, here it
was, the “last” day of operation of the infamous River City
Saloon, and I’m standing outside – it’s about 9:30 p.m., and it’s packed. There’s people
everywhere. I’m debating, should I stay, or should I go. My
partner Peny is with me, trying to coax me through the door.
Fortunately, my dear friend Kathy is also
sitting outside. We haven’t seen each other in weeks. She plays
bass. She reminds me that we have a band, and should really play
some music sometime. She reminds me why that’s important. And
she’s right.
The cover is 8 bucks. (Jeeze, didn’t I
read somewhere that this whole week was free?) I sigh. It’s for a
good cause. There’s a lot of people playing music tonight.
Fine, we’re going in. It’s potentially the
last night. It’s pretty well packed. I finally get a few beers.
The stage is starting to happen. I’m listening to “Crazy Pete,”
thinking what an amazingly diverse place this community is.
I mean, check this out. Two hours ago, I
was up at the HR Middle School for the concert at the fiddle
contest. And right there, on stage, was, my most-favorite-all-time
mando players, in the world. I’ve seen John Reishman’s band, the
Jaybirds, many times, and got to spend some time in workshops with
him on a bluegrass cruise a few years ago.
And here he is, jamming with guitarist
John Miller, on a nice set of world-jazz-folk music.
Unbelievable.
Crazy Pete is into his third or fourth Bob
Dylan Song. I’m pretty sure that Pete only covers Bob. It’s kind
of the thing he does. And, I must say, that since I’ve been on my
“Laugh More Tour” this year, Pete’s comedy ranks up there with
some of the stuff I’ve been seeing, really. I’m sure there’s a lot
of stages out there that would appreciate what he does.
I laugh to myself – I think Pete has
played with just about everybody in the Gorge. I remember my band
playing at the Trillium a few years ago, and I think we’ve had
more than one Pete Experiences.
OK, where was I? Oh yeah, the last night,
and all that. Yes, the next set, from 4 on the Floor rocked.
You’ve got to hand it to these guys, for playing under some
stressful conditions. I mean, it’s so loud, just from the
audience, that if you stand more than 10 feet from the stage, you
can hardly hear anything. You’ve got to be right up near the
stage, to appreciate it.
And I did appreciate it. And you know
what, I lot of other people did, too. Some folks, were so
appreciative, and emotionally moved by the fact that this was, by
all accounts, the last time the River
City would actually “Be” the
River City,
that they wanted to tell their story, in their own words.
That’s what Gorge resident Jodi Bergstrom
did. Out of the blue, she emailed me and said she’d like to write
about it. She called the last day at
River City
a “transitional moment that needs to be recorded for posterity.”
How can you say no?
Read an interview with
Jodi Bergstrom
here:
P.S. I made it till
midnight. Which, I’d say, is pretty good, for us old
folks? I got word from our reporter, Adam Lapierre, that he made
it till 2 a.m. And that
he heard that the last person may have been told to go home around 4 a.m. I just hope they called a cab.
Thanks, RCS, for all the great times, and
good luck in the new endeavor – Jim and Peny
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