Red saw an apparition from the past:

— And then …. JOHN CAFFERTY!

— You know, people make fun and all that, but here’s the deal, and here’s what I saw: I saw someone who has not gone bitter and pissed because his moment of fame did not pan out to a lifetime of fame. According to the folks in Rhode Island, he IS a star. And he IS. And not only that: but there he is, playing the songs that everyone knew once upon a time – way back in the 80s when they suddenly were national, rather than local … and he has probably played them thousands, and thousands, of times. And to me it felt like the first time. He had that same enthusiasm. He’s not pissed that people remember. (A lot of one-hit wonders ARE pissed if you remember their one-hit … because all it means to them is that they didn’t have TWO hits. Now I get that … I get that it’s freakin’ tough to not have your dreams pan out … I get that on almost a cellular level, because I’ve lived it … ) But to see someone who LOVES that people remember … and who plays those songs with as much gusto and as much enthusiasm as when he played them in the 80s … You know, I just really loved him for that. I loved him for being okay with being loved. The crowd goes NUTS for the Triple B … and I was telling Beth and Michele about it the next night and they both were saying, “Oh my God, we all HAVE to go the next time you’re in town.” This is our high school years. There he is. The same band. All together. John Cafferty would come out into the crowd with his guitar – and people would jostle him, crowd around him … give him a stool so he could then step up onto one of the tables in the middle of the crowd. Jean and I, watching, were just laughing and clapping and loving him. He’s an entertainer. He’s a local staple. He made it big for about 2 seconds. And people remember and still come out in droves to see him. And he loves that. I had a couple of moments when I teared up. Because I am a geek of the highest order. But I’ve also been an emotional basket-case for about 3 weeks now. Just let’s go way up, shall we? And then let’s go way back down again, shall we? Seeing John Cafferty stand up on that table, in the middle of a sea of pulsing throbbing arms in the air, people shouting up at him, people who know all his lyrics, who remember him when … gave me a little lump in the ol’ gizzard, I’ll tell ya.

— But we also sang along at the tops of our lungs. Pat was openly laughing at us. And Sean was openly scornful. I think he didn’t want to go to Burning Man with me after seeing me go nuts over John Cafferty. Hahaha

— It was a BLAST. TRIPLE B!!!

Livin in the C-I-T-Y! Livin’ in the city!

Or …

On the dark side, oh yeah
On the dark side, oh yeah
On the dark side, oh yeah

John Cafferty must have the life of riley; he’s had one megahit, which will keep the royalties coming in forever (in fact, I’ve been hearing “On the Dark Side” more in the past year or so than I have since the song was on the Top 40), so he doesn’t have to suck up to any recording industry weasels; he’s a local hero (think Martin Zellar or GB Leighton with royalty checks) who can pack bars around the mid-atlantic, which pays mighty nice.  He can do music for a living and actually (I’m thinking) make a decent living at it. 

How cool would that be?

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 5:47 am and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.