Thursday, August 4, 2011

Badfinger (Knapp's Lounge, Tacoma, Evening of August 3rd)

So, yes - Danielle and I have dinner once week in the Lounge at Knapp's over there on Proctor Avenue. We could eat in the restaurant but prefer the Lounge. I believe you would, too. It's something out of the late 60s or early 70s, lovely low-slung booths, dim lighting, a bar that seats eight or nine, candles on the tables. And if you DO have dinner on a Tuesday through Friday night, well, Robin will take care of you. We like Robin very much.

So last night there was a guy up at the bar wearing what I believe to be a straw hat. He was my age or younger, and I don't remember EXACTLY how he was dressed, but I would not be surprised if suspenders were involved; if the phrase Barber Shop Quartet pops into your head it wasn't QUITE that, but definitely a stop on that evolutionary trajectory. Suffice to say it was not a look I was used to in San Francisco nor, from what I can tell, is it a look they are used to in Tacoma. So, at one point, he got up and walked over to the jukebox and he was whistling a tune that I immediately recognized as Badfinger's "No Matter What You Do (I Will Always Be With You, Girl)". What could this possibly matter to me, you ask? (Or you don't but, hey, you've come this far.)

Well, over the last several months, I've been on something of a Badfinger kick since I heard Steve Earle play "Baby Blue" on his satellite radio show. I did a little research and, apparently, they were poised to be a Big Fucking Deal (I think signed to Apple Records, for a time), but without going into too much detail, their lead vocalist/songwriter Pete Ham hung himself in, I believe, 1975 or so, age 26 or 27. Depression can be fucking devastating, as we all know. That pretty much ended the BFD end of things, but the survivors on and off trudged forward without him until maybe 1983, when the second founding member, John Evans, went and hung himself as well. So there's that. What I have been most interested in of late, though, was simply the POTENTIAL this band had to be a giant name of 70s pop, and how most people don't know who they are today. That and a couple of suicides strikes me as pretty damn sad.

But back to Knapp's - I am simply I mean simply LOVING my chilled Sapphire in the booth closest to the window when I hear this gentleman whistling the tune, and I have no choice, really, but to approach him. I introduce myself, shake his hand (and by God up close he looked like a young John Waters, down to the very thin mustache), and mention that I recognized the tune he was whistling. His face took on that (now popular world-wide) expression of "I Can't Believe You Recognized That Song; Nobody Recognizes Badfinger", and as I trundled off to the mens' room he told me he would play any Badfinger songs he could find (I believe it was the dreaded internet jukebox but it did work to my benefit on this occasion).

I return to the booth and, in a moment, "Without You" starts. Of course you would know this as a monster hit for Harry Nilsson, but it was a Badfinger original. Then, "No Matter What You Do" starts, and my man gets up and walks past our table to go on his way into the warm Tacoma night. I stop him briefly, thank him for playing the two Badfinger songs, and discover that his name is Terry. After he is gone, a third Badfinger song begins, "If You Want It Here It Is Come and Get It", written for them by Paul McCartney. THEN "Day After Day" (looking out of my lonely room/day after day) plays. THEN "Baby Blue" plays (possibly my favorite pop song ever). I mean seriously - the man played five Badfinger songs and left the bar on the second one meaning that, in essence, he played them all for me.

Turns out Terry is a regular; I asked Robin. Needless to say he will be comped a cocktail or beer the next time I see him but, beyond that, I couldn't help but think that some version of Miss O'Connor's grace had descended upon my personal story last night in Knapp's, and I will happily take that wherever and whenever I can get it.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful moment of two folks minding their own business but tied together by a lifetime of listening. A brief aside, I was taught that the only instance in which "hanged" was the correct past tense for the verb "to hang" was a when human beings did that to themselves or each other. Otherwise of course it's "hung". I only mention it because it was such a curious thing to have been taught, regardless of whether it is correct or not, and because for the life of me I can't remember who it was taught me that. On another topic, it is amazing how much really creative and well wrought pop music has been lost over the years. So much of the stuff we grew up around bears listening to again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I walked into a winery this afternoon with Danielle a few blocks away from where are staying - Badfinger was on the radio.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Hanged" not "hung". Thanks for that, George. I don't know that I've EVER written that correctly, then.

    ReplyDelete

Civility.