Weird Guitar Player Story
charles robinson
Harry Connick's band were in there and everything was smokin'. I came out at
about midnight and my car had been towed. Instantly my whole life changed:
I'm making cell phone calls trying to get my car only to find that you
can't pick them up until 8:00 AM. My wife is out of town so I'm stranded
walking around the downtown of a major city with my guitar and amp while
guys are stopping me every 10 yards asking for spare change. (No wonder
people get murdered.) A friendly cop helped me catch the last train out of
the Marta station but unfortunately it didn't stop at my stop. I got off at
another one only to find myself in a place that I've never been before, one
of those long stretches of McDonald's, strip malls, gas stations etc. all of
which are closed. I call on my cell phone to try to find a cab company only
to be told that there aren't any out that way. Now I'm freezing standing on
the side of a highway in the middle of who knows where, worse off than
before.I've still got my guitar and amp though (thank God I bought that
JazzKat). Just when it looks like it is only a matter of time before I find
out what is out there in the great beyond a Jamaican cab driver stops and
says" I saw you standing out there and felt sorry for you mon, we aren't
supposed to pick up people off the side of the road but jump in anyway". He
saved my life. The moral: When playing downtown use those parking garages.
Charlie
Al
was driving home from a gig on a freeway and noticed my alternator was
dying. At two in the morning I figured I'd better pull off into the city,
where I'd at least have a chance of finding a phone booth if the car died.
This was way before cell phones. So I pulled into downtown Baltimore, a
city can be pretty dangerous. (Claims to fame include shows like Homocide
and The Wire). I knew that if I kept the car running I'd have a chance of
getting home, but that if I stopped and the car stalled I was in trouble.
Baltimore is totally surrounded by a ring of tough neighborhoods, so I got
on the street that seemed to be safest. In that direction there was only a
two or three block area that was of major concern, and I figured if I got
through the traffic light in that area I was pretty safe. So I'm zooming
through green light after green light, and I'm starting to relax, when --
crap! -- I catch a red light at one of the worst intersections in town.
(Heroin, anyone?) And my car dies right there in the middle of the street.
It's Saturday night, I'm in a lame white disco suit, I've got about $200
cash on my because I just got paid, and my car is full of guitars and amps.
I looked around and there were about thirty tough looking guys staring at
me. Fortunately, there was a phone booth right there. I figured that I
could act like a dork and get robbed or worse, or I could take a chance and
see what happens. So I got out of the car, stood as tall as I could, and in
my deepest voice asked several of the guys on the street if they could help
push my car to the curb. This would probably never happen again, but that's
exactly what they did. And nobody said a word to me. Once there, I called
my Dad and woke him up and, after a nervous wait in the car, I was out of
there an hour later. Miraculously, my car was even there the next day. Go
figure.
Kevin Van Sant
<robins...@comcast.net> wrote in message
<brCdnfwOvqEN5XPY...@comcast.com> :
ah Charlie... what good is this job without stories like that! I'm
glad everthing worked out in the end for you.
_________________________________________
Kevin Van Sant
http://www.kevinvansant.com
CDs, videos, mp3s, gigs, pics, lessons, info.
charles robinson
on your own until things like that happen.. I was standing there with the
next days headlines going through my mind.....Guitar Player Found etc.
Charlie
"Al" <dataview...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:TxyHh.2199$ic7...@newsfe05.lga...
charles robinson
involved with getting my car back. At least I'm alive though .Maybe you are
right, teller of stories has a nice ring to it.... possibly with a promo
pack and....nah..
Charlie
"Kevin Van Sant" <kvan...@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:ojftu2l4e4s2q55vh...@4ax.com...
Mark Guest
the bad neighborhood for you to find your car, I'll bet.
Al's story reminded me of a time in New Orleans when I parked in a bad
looking neighborhood and thought the worst of the situation for a
while until I realized that I was being a jerk thinking the worst of
the locals. I smiled, said "hi" to the people on the porch and
returned to my intact car. I suspect that bad situations get worse
when we think the worst of people, though I know that there is a
random factor at work, also.
I saw some of Harry's guys playing an Asheville club the day before
Harry's show. The black-haired sax player (Kevin?) is just RIDICULOUS.
Smokin!
On Mar 7, 9:06 am, "charles robinson" <robinsonch...@comcast.net>
wrote:
> Worked out? I just woke up, now I have to go through all of the changes
> involved with getting my car back. At least I'm alive though .Maybe you are
> right, teller of stories has a nice ring to it.... possibly with a promo
> pack and....nah..
> Charlie
>
> "Kevin Van Sant" <kvans...@pobox.com> wrote in messagenews:ojftu2l4e4s2q55vh...@4ax.com...
>
> > On Wed, 7 Mar 2007 03:31:50 -0500, "charles robinson"
> > <robinsonch...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > <brCdnfwOvqEN5XPYnZ2dnUVZ_tOmn...@comcast.com> :
charles robinson
tonight.
Charlie
"Mark Guest" <Mark.C...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1173278011.3...@64g2000cwx.googlegroups.com...
RickH
wrote:
I commuted the Rock Island to Chicago for years, occasionally I slept
past my stop. Heres a tip, if you miss your stop or forced to take a
train to a different stop, go to the nearest pizza or Chinese food
joint at that stop. Order some food for delivery, then pay the
delivery boy an extra 20 to also deliver you and the food to your
house. Trying to get a cab in the burbs is impossible and expensive.
I had to do this maybe 5 times during those years, and a comforting
dinner is ready to go when you get home.
Mark Guest
On Mar 7, 10:25 am, "charles robinson" <robinsonch...@comcast.net>
wrote:
> I played with him last night, he is incredible. They will be performing here
> tonight.
> Charlie
>
> "Mark Guest" <Mark.C.Gu...@gmail.com> wrote in message
charles robinson
but there is something different about being suddenly thrust into a
situation like that which you are unprepared for.
Charlie
"RickH" <pass...@windcrestsoftware.com> wrote in message
news:1173281624.7...@s48g2000cws.googlegroups.com...
charles robinson
hold for an hour now trying to link into just one part of the bureaucratic
process that is supposed to bring me to that end.). I got a chance to talk
to the tenor and alto players for a while after things were over. The alto
player has been with the band for years and remembers when Russell Malone
was a member.Both are big Jackie McLean fans.
Someday they are going have to set a day aside to honor whoever thought of
playing these looped messages while you are on hold. I'm becoming especially
fond of the one that apologizes for any delay that I might be experiencing.
Later, Charlie
"Mark Guest" <Mark.C...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1173281627.8...@8g2000cwh.googlegroups.com...
Mark Guest
wrote:
(snip)
> Someday they are going have to set a day aside to honor whoever thought of
> playing these looped messages while you are on hold. I'm becoming especially
> fond of the one that apologizes for any delay that I might be experiencing.
> Later, Charlie
Your call is very important to us. Yeah, right!
Best of luck!
BTW, do you do any work with Kevin Bales?
tomb...@jhu.edu
> Glad you're OK, Charlie. Good luck paying off the tow charges. Back to
> the bad neighborhood for you to find your car, I'll bet.
>
> Al's story reminded me of a time in New Orleans when I parked in a bad
> looking neighborhood and thought the worst of the situation for a
> while until I realized that I was being a jerk thinking the worst of
> the locals. I smiled, said "hi" to the people on the porch and
> returned to my intact car. I suspect that bad situations get worse
> when we think the worst of people, though I know that there is a
> random factor at work, also.
I tend to be overly optimistic in assuming that people are good-
natured, no matter what neighborhood I'm in. The first time I ever
went to jam at Sportsmen's Lounge in Baltimore, the leader asked me
how I got in there. I said, "Well, I just parked a couple blocks away
and toted my stuff." He shook his head and said I must be lucky. He
insisted on walking me back to my car after the jam, saying that he
had developed a detente with the corner boys. Apparently he thought
that his halo would protect me.
charles robinson
ever see him anywhere now. I think that he is on the road a lot. I used to
hear him when he was just a kid in Floria years ago. He is outrageously
good.
Charlie
"Mark Guest" <Mark.C...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1173286130.8...@p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
Max Leggett
wrote:
>I looked around and there were about thirty tough looking guys staring at
>me. Fortunately, there was a phone booth right there. I figured that I
>could act like a dork and get robbed or worse, or I could take a chance and
>see what happens. So I got out of the car, stood as tall as I could, and in
>my deepest voice asked several of the guys on the street if they could help
>push my car to the curb. This would probably never happen again, but that's
>exactly what they did. And nobody said a word to me. Once there, I called
>my Dad and woke him up and, after a nervous wait in the car, I was out of
>there an hour later. Miraculously, my car was even there the next day. Go
>figure.
I got stranded by a couple of jerks in downtown Washington DC at 2 in
the morning. Can't find a cab. Hair down to here, jeans, so when I
walk into the Marriot [I was staying at a Marriot just outside of
town] the security guards chased me out. Saw a couple of cops. "Excuse
me officer, but I'm looking for a cab and ..." They look me up and
down. "Fuck off, hippy." So it's 2 in the morning, I'm standing 100
yards from the Greyhound bus depot, I'm the only white face in sight,
apart from the fiendly constabulary. Big lean black guy walks up to
me. Must've been 6'6" if he was an inch. Had no colour in his eyes.
Says, "What you looking for, boy?" "I'm looking for a cab to get me
back to my hotel." "Oh, well, there's a cab stand just around that
corner up ahead," and he smiles this death's head smile. "Thank you
very much." And I figure it's a plant, and around the corner up ahead
is where I get mugged, but the dude is looking at me and smiling, so I
figure If I don't go up there then he'll get insulted and do me in
himself. So I go up ahead, take a deep breath, turn the corner, and,
mirabile dictu, there's a cab. Two guys in it, one of riding shotgun,
literally, a sawed off leaning on his knee. They drive me to my hotel.
That's the end of that nighmare, although it's just another example of
the different way I've generally been treated by the black and the
white population.
>
>
>
-------------------------------------------------------
Is it not strange that sheep's guts should hale
souls out of men's bodies?
Willie 'The Lion' Shakespeare
-------------------------------------------------------
tom walls
robins...@comcast.net says...
--
Tom Walls
the guy at the Temple of Zeus
Keith Freeman
... as in the Venomous Bede?
-Keith
Portable Changes, tips etc. at http://home.wanadoo.nl/keith.freeman/
e-mail only to keith DOT freeman AT orange DOT nl
charles robinson
have been people around. I was in one of those high crime areas in the main
downtown area of the city with all of the businesses closed. From there I
ended up on the side of that highway after a long train ride. I almost
retrieved my car today but didn't know that the police branch that I had to
present my registration to (obtained by going to the towing companies
location and getting it from the car) closed at 4:00 PM. After that it is
just a matter of going back to the towing company (a train ride that
transfers to a bus). Maybe today....................Charlie
c<tomb...@jhu.edu> wrote in message
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