Miracle on 36th

Merlin’s Pub, Minneapolis 22 October, 2016

The show must go on.

Even Batty, the homebody, needs to get out from time to time.

A little music, a little brew—it’s all right.

Rich and his band, down at the pub, playing the jukebox of my life.

Hitting it off with the person next to me, we even sing harmony on a few numbers.

Little Feat, Van, Bob, you know the drill.

Some other, lesser, lights, but still worthy: Prine, Clark, Hunter.

The accordion player is gone tonight—he needed his pacemaker changed.

It’s tough getting old.

A singer who was supposed to sit in sits in the E.R. with a broken wrist.

A call for volunteers, a woman comes up from the back of the room.

After a few words with the band they glide into Gershwin’s Summertime.

She begins to sing.

And the heavens open.