The Pick-up Artists

... No! not the Oliver Hardy tie twirling bit! And it's working!

"Good evening ladies, and good night 'gentlemen.' We'll see you guys later... "

The standard operating procedure for the band members' post-gig was to involve some sort of pick-up attempt, whether merely symbolic or involving an actual consummation. Most of the guys in the group were taken so that left the job to Billy and Tom, confirmed bachelors. We were in an all-night truck stop just outside of Elk River, Minnesota, regrouping after having played for peanuts at a lakeside resort further north. This time the boys got "lucky." The girls had a hot car and a wild streak to match. A few days later Billy and Tom showed up, none the worse for the experience, despite having to hitch-hike over 30 miles to get home. They said that their "close encounter" ended with the four of them parked near a cesspool and that "those girls were swallowing ugly pills by the minute."

That was about as detailed a description we ever got from those two would-be Romeos, although after a night of playing, smoking and drinking the same description of them could have come from the girls as well.

Who says youth is wasted on the young?

Or was it: "The young are wasted in their youth?"