Friday 1 November 2013

Enjoy Yourself

Jeff already knew how the night would end, there may or may not be thrillless sex with one of the groupies but there'd certainly be a long empty sleepless night waiting for the speed to wear off enough to allow him at least an hour's shut eye before it was time to load up the van and move on again. He took a swig from his bottle of beer, he'd long ago given up on sampling the local stuff, instead going for the generic crap, that was consistent and he could trust. The band were just finishing setting up, he barely knew this incarnation of the Gilders, talented musicians all of them, but just kids, they were more chess club than rock and roll. They kept themselves to themselves and after the gig they locked themselves away with their Facebook and World of Warcraft or whatever it was they played. He was the only original member left now; gradually the others had all given up and got 'proper jobs'. Even some of the first replacements had moved on. He used to dream of making it, now he dreamed of getting the band back together, while they dreamed of paying the mortgage and putting their kids through school. He saw them occasionally, they were still friends but he could see pity in their eyes. He lit another cigarette defying the smoking ban and inhaled deeply. It was his 43rd birthday, what was he doing still playing the same old mediocre songs night after night? This was the 25th anniversary tour. 25 years, a whole generation of kids had danced to his skateboard ska. The fact that the crowd remained 18 amazed Jeff. They kept being discovered by kids who looked the same as he did when he was their age.  It was almost time for the sound check, that wouldn't take long; this was the smallest room they'd played. The rooms were getting smaller and smaller, the crowds sparser and sparser. Conversely with the new musicians the music was getting better and better but despite the hard-core fan base and the curious they were never going to get mass appeal. He'd often though of quitting too, of moving on, but what else did he know? What else could he do? He was a guitarist in a rock and roll band, that's who he was?
They always finished with the same song, a cover of Enjoy Yourself. They did that nice little bit were each band member introduced themselves and saying how they would enjoy themselves. Jeff noticed that none of the kids in the band said tonight I'm going to enjoy myself by checking my status update and chatting to my mum on Skype, but there you go they had to give the image of the rock star. Andy on bass always started the little speaking bit, it might have looked spontaneous but actually it was well rehearsed. But tonight Andy went off script.
'Hi my name's Andy and Tonight I am going to enjoy myself by introducing John James on Drum… Mike Richards on trombone… Paul Gilder on trumpet… and Bryn Lewis on Bass,' Jeff couldn't believe his eyes or ears, as Andy spoke, new musicians appeared on stage and seamlessly took over from their counterparts. 'Ladies and Gentlemen to celebrate Jeff Gilder's birthday and 25 years of the band give it up for the original line up.' With that Andy left the stage and let the original Gilders take over. Tears welled in Jeff's eyes but there was no time for that, it as time to rock.
'Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think' he belted out.
The band sounded terrible, his voice sounded emotional but he didn't care, no he didn't give a fuck, for one night, one night only he felt like he was playing Wembley. 

2 comments:

  1. yeah..I was enjoying myself till you said so, till I've read you.. so now, I'm enjoying myself with you in my head!

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  2. I do prefer 'Time' by Pink Floyd.. but we are still in our 'pink'..right? :-)

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