Jukebox man
You're in Coral Bay. You stop what you're doing for a moment to reflect. It's summer, there's warm blue skies and a cool wind. You're drinking a bottle of Classic Dry White Vasse Felix which was left from the uninvited party at your temporary home last night.
A used foam bowl of Fantastic Chicken Noodles on the table which you've kept because this place holds no eating utilities. Your harmonica bathing in a glass of water and your acoustic guitar lazing on your bed. Through the walls you hear the dull thud of "You Shook Me All Night Long" which is accompanied by the rustle of the palm trees through the broken fly screen door, which you're lying next to on a fold out couch writing in your diary, drinking the dry white from the bottle - which you decide shall remain lidless, mindlessly tossing the lid aimlessly as a testament that you'll soon see the bottom.
You raise your eyes in thought to notice the bottom half of a cut 2 litre Coke bottle, which reminds you again of last night. A big night. One well worth documenting. In a blog.
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We finished our last gig of the tour in Coral Bay. Bands play acoustic here, its the vibe. It didn't stop us from playing our usual ACDC songs - Amped is a band well known for its competency of anything pub rock.
The manager, Peter, is a very cool chick. She's lenient with Amped; they're long time clientel. This night we had everyone dancing, singing and moshing all at the same time, so she's pretty happy with us.
Jimmy, the singer, offers her to come back to hang out for a bit with us, share some drinks.
BACK AT THE RANCH
We start drinking quite a bit, and Peter rocks up with a friend, Hayley. Nice girl. Just as we greet her another guest arrives, her name is Emma. Also a nice girl. We hear a crash outside, which we run out to find some station wagon is high tailing it after bumping into a stupidly parked car. We turn to see about 8 people heading our way. Without greeting us, they walk into our temporary home.
Apparently this is the place to be.
A used foam bowl of Fantastic Chicken Noodles on the table which you've kept because this place holds no eating utilities. Your harmonica bathing in a glass of water and your acoustic guitar lazing on your bed. Through the walls you hear the dull thud of "You Shook Me All Night Long" which is accompanied by the rustle of the palm trees through the broken fly screen door, which you're lying next to on a fold out couch writing in your diary, drinking the dry white from the bottle - which you decide shall remain lidless, mindlessly tossing the lid aimlessly as a testament that you'll soon see the bottom.
You raise your eyes in thought to notice the bottom half of a cut 2 litre Coke bottle, which reminds you again of last night. A big night. One well worth documenting. In a blog.
We finished our last gig of the tour in Coral Bay. Bands play acoustic here, its the vibe. It didn't stop us from playing our usual ACDC songs - Amped is a band well known for its competency of anything pub rock.
The manager, Peter, is a very cool chick. She's lenient with Amped; they're long time clientel. This night we had everyone dancing, singing and moshing all at the same time, so she's pretty happy with us.
Jimmy, the singer, offers her to come back to hang out for a bit with us, share some drinks.
BACK AT THE RANCH
We start drinking quite a bit, and Peter rocks up with a friend, Hayley. Nice girl. Just as we greet her another guest arrives, her name is Emma. Also a nice girl. We hear a crash outside, which we run out to find some station wagon is high tailing it after bumping into a stupidly parked car. We turn to see about 8 people heading our way. Without greeting us, they walk into our temporary home.
Apparently this is the place to be.
THE PARTY SCENE
SCENE: OUTSIDE PARTY HOUSE, ABOUT TEN PEOPLE SITTING IN A CIRCLE AROUND A TABLE, SHAUN SITTING AT THE END DOODLING AROUND ON GUITAR, A GIRL SITTING NEXT TO HIM TELLING HIM WHAT TO PLAY, HE IS DEAD KEEN ON NOT TURNING THIS PARTY INTO ANOTHER SINGALONG PARTY
SHAUN: I REALLY DON'T THINK I CAN, I'M PRETTY DRUNK
GIRL: PLEASE, PLAY BLACKBIRD, I LOOOOVE THAT SONG. NO PLAY LIGHTNING CRASHES. C'MON. PLEEAASE.
SHAUN: SORRY, I JUST CAN'T... TOO DRUNK
GIRL: OKAY, PLAY ME YOUR FAVOURITE SONG. SING IT FOR ME. I REAALLY WANT TO HEAR A SONG
SHAUN: (PAUSES) WELL... OKAY. I LEARNED THIS TOM WAITS SONG TODAY, I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT I REALLY LOVE THIS SONG, I COULD TRY TO SING THAT
GIRL: YAY! (LISTENS WITH INTENT)
SHAUN: (CHECKS THE TUNING OF HIS GUITAR) OKAY, THIS IS CALLED "I HOPE THAT I DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU"
SHAUN STARTS PLAYING THE INTRO, A SWEET LITTLE MELODY
SHAUN: (SINGING) WELL I HOPE THAT I DON- (cut off)
GIRL: DON'T PLAY THAT CLASSICAL SHIT! PLAY SOMETHING EVERYONE KNOWS SO WE CAN SING ALONG!
SHAUN SITS FROZEN ON HIS LAST NOTE, HIS MOUTH STILL PAUSED OVER THE "N" IN THE "DON'T" AS HE CAN'T COMPREHEND WHICH IS MORE ANNOYING, HER RUDENESS OR HER IGNORANCE.
GIRL: PLAY REEF! PLACE YOUR HANDS! DO IT!
SHAUN: YEAH, I'M DEFINATELY TOO DRUNK
ADRIAN, A FELLOW MUSICIAN TAKES THE GUITAR, AND CONTINUES, FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT, TO PLAY THE TOP HITS OF THE 80S, 90S, AND TODAY, INCLUDING NUMBERS LIKE "THE DRUGS DON'T WORK" AND "TO BE WITH YOU".
EVERYBODY SINGS ALONG. SHAUN, UNBEKNOWNST TO HIS COMPANIONS, HAS SLIPPED INTO THE CORNER OF HIS SUBCONSCIOUS MIND TO JOIN HIS FRIENDS IN THE DARK, WHERE THEY DON'T TALK, OR LISTEN TO SONGS, THEY JUST ENJOY EACH OTHERS COMPANY.
ON THE OUTSIDE, SHAUN IS SMILING.
Labels: Coral Bay
