“Without music, life would be a mistake.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
You know how some days everything goes wrong to the point that you wonder why you bothered to get out of bed? Today was like that until 6:30 this evening when I got this note from Julie Smoak.
Julie: “Hey Kopana! I hope you and yours are well. Am I correct in remembering that you all [Stealin Horses] played closing night of [Café] LMNOP?”
Me: “That’s correct! Were you there?”
Julie: “I was!!! I was out in the middle of Main St after the Fire Marshall kicked us out singing with the crowd “Wish we were rocking…at the cafe tonight”
What’s so weird, wonderful, delightful, freaky cool about the timing of Julie’s note is, during last Thursday’s zoom party for Kiya’s 60th birthday, Kiya told the story of the last night of Café LMNOP. We were on stage when the Fire Marshall came in to shut the place down. To be clear, it was the last night the bar was going to be open anyway because they were tearing down the building to connect Rose Street with Elm Tree Ln. The Fire Marshall, or someone in higher authority, decided to shut it down early claiming fire code violation because Bradley (the owner), in mourning, had draped the place in black plastic. So the Fire Marshall and his officers start running people out as we kept playing. Eventually, the Fire Marshall came onstage (we stopped playing then) and announced that the night was over and that everyone needed to vacate the premises. As soon as the Marshall left the stage, Kiya started singing again. That riled the crowd, of course, and vacating the premises definitely wasn’t going as planned. From the crowded dance floor, the Fire Marshall kept telling her to stop playing, and yet, she persisted (and you thought it started with Elizabeth Warren). The Fire Marshall, visibly pissed, started toward the stage, hand on cuffs. That’s when I walked out to Kiya and told her that me and the boys together didn’t have enough to go her bail. We made our quick exit stage right before the Fire Marshall got to her, and walked out into the parking lot on Main Street where we found the crowd that had been inside now singing the lyrics of Kiya’s song, “Pralltown Cafe.” That song would make our debut album, but as Kiya related to her birthday friends last Thursday, 35 years later, that night, that moment, and those people singing her song was her proudest moment. This, my friends, is how to end a rotten day. Good memories. Good friends. Good music.
The photo above was from a promo shoot we did less than a year later in Nashville. Neither of us can remember the photographer’s name.
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