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some hours at a homeless shelter in the area. So i’d heard about
the Shake house. When i called them back i decided i’d like to
see it for myself. the owner gave me directions and told me to come
down to his office.
pretty soon they had me backstage. This heavy guy
named lionel taught me about the sound business, taught
me how to roll cords and set levels and blend. I came down
to the club every day, even on Mondays when there weren’t
any shows but some of the musicians would come down to
jam and drink whiskey and play cards. They called me “ju-
nior” or “boy,” but they invited me to their table and poured
me a glass. Things at home weren’t all that good for me at
that time – my dad had left, this time for good, and my mom
was pretty anxious to get me moved out since I wasn’t in
school anymore – so I dug in underneath the outside world
with all of them at the shake house.
The Shake House is in the basement of an abandoned office
building. You enter from the alley on the side of the building, just
a heavy steel door with a fading sign nailed above. this opens to a
flight of dingy concrete steps lit by flickering florescent lights. Kind
of a crack-den first impression, if you know what I mean. But once
you’re inside, you sense what the buzz was all about. i noticed the
nice, clean oak bar, hardwood floors sparkling thanks to a fresh
mopping, and a small but well equipped stage where a stagehand
moved about, taking down mic stands. In the back office was Nate
riley, the owner who i’d talked to on the phone, and a frail black
man with a head full of gray hair even though he didn’t look much
above forty. they invited me to their table and poured me a glass
of whiskey. the lighting cast the room in a yellow gloom, and both
the men hunched over their drinks, giving the ice a rattle before
taking it to their lips. i smiled.
blue moon
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