*Got a wonderful surprise text this weekend from a bandmate of mine from 1965. He’s coming to visit! Brought a flood of memories, condensed here to 144 words, from my crazy years in the 1960’s, when my blue-eyed soul band played the all-night R&B clubs in Newport Ky — the ‘wild’, anything-goes world, just across the Ohio River from conservative, hypocritical Cincinnati. His text sparked this piece, which is also inspired by an old poem of mine. Fluffed flashback, not fiction.
Rob on stage with duo partner Dave Oakley in 1965 at age 18.
Our gig ended at 3:00 AM. Now here we sit with smuggled single malt, and the crusty sunrise special. Me and my band of doo wop warriors are bliss’d out from giggin’, mixin’ ‘mong willing groupies, loud hanger-on’s, and other players — when far away an interrupted cry distracts me. My friend Joey, back from ‘Nam.
I wave him over. We’re sittin’ with steel-heart working girls, soul-bruised painted strippers, burnt drink slingers, tired cocktail mules, hustlers, grifters, gamblers, pimps, pushers — and cops. A strange, wonderful family of the night, hidin’ from those cruel first rays, ready to scurry to dark, well-curtained rooms.
Joey’s diggin’ it, but time to make that final score, to get us through ‘till sundown strikes up the band again. It’s cirque du morning madness, all sneakin’ up on breakfast.
lookin’ for a place to crash
ain’t this showbiz grand
Gladiator Restaurant, Newport KY – 1965
“actual site of the all-night breakfasts”
rob kistner © 2019
Rob & Dave of the Brothers Royal were with this group, in the Casinos Review
Hi! I’m Edgrrr, rob’s shih tzu.
What a wonderful surprise to be able to reconnect after all those years.. love the way you describe all those people hanging around on a wonderful evening.
Though I expect there will be a hangover morning to pay.
I hear from Gene, my former drummer, from time to time – but he hasn’t been to visit me in a number of years. He said with my recent Pacemaker, he better get here before I go to that great gig in the sky. We are both Pink Floyd fans, especially their “Dark Side Of The Moon” album. That was a typical after-gig breakfast back then.
Wow, just delightful–perfection in prose. I dig the lingo and imagery. You build such a strong scenario, that ,this could be a preface to a period novella. Love the haiku chaser. Really knocked me out, man.
Thanks Glenn! If I could hold the focused concentration to complete it, I would love to put my life experiences into a novella – to be published after I’m gone, and probably with name changes to protect my family. Nobody would probably believe it. Bet your life would make interesting reading.
Sounds like a memory! If you can remember it in the mornin’
Oh, my memories of all my phases of my life are reasonably intact Mary – my years as a preformer are pretty vivid.
Loving the vibe here, Rob!
I miss it very much Vivian! The years on stage were full of every emotion possible – but I wouldn’t have traded a single moment of them!
Doo Wop Warriars with the Nam buddies, the groupies hangin’ on….the gigs. Oh you’ve given us superb details to set us down in the scene!
Glad this resonated for you Lillian. My life in those years on stage through the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s were an intense scene indeed! I definitely lived free, and by my own terms – but I was always kind and grateful.
Wow! Some life you lived there, Rob. Sounds like you put it all out there, and definitely had your share; as it should be 🙂 . Good for you. Loved the read.
Pat
It was great Pat! I am grateful to have been so fortunate.
Such a great read, I suddenly understood my musician friends who never could articulate the scene, mumbling and stumbling in keyed up or later demanding silence in their hangovers. The list of the people you mixed it up with is perfect.
Thank you Victoria! Those post- midnight, early AM breakfast scenes were a bit like bacchanalian carnival. A little crazy, a lotta fun with some great free spirits. Different world when you’re approaching bedtime at sunrise.
The thrills of performing music in front of adoring fans, then partying with them afterwards sounds like a vibrant lifestyle. Music can make people happy like nothing else. To listen brings joy. To be the music maker has got to make a person feel like a wizard in a way. I enjoyed your telling of your experiences. Glad your buddy is coming to visit. I know you and he will be talking about those days and having a great time.
It was a great joy Jade, to be able to put my soul fully out there, and feel that amazing energy being directed at me from a large body of people, unified in their celebration, who are being 100% genuine in their happiness. It is a huge privilege to have such a pure, transcendent gift freely bestowed upon you. Truly impossible to put into words. Addictive – not to my ego, but to the essence of myself. It elevated me to a timeless, ethereal place? I felt blessed, not adored. I miss it so very much. It was the best of reality that I have ever known.
Blessed sounds good to me. Also wanted to say what handsome young guys you two are in the pictures. Hoping you enjoyed the weekend with your buddy.
Thank you Jade… 🙂
A great write Rob! Loved the piece of Americana that you show throughout. It must have been a wild and crazy time back then! Well done!
Thank you so much Dwight! 🙂 It was glorious. It was human beings being completely open and free. I will always remember what it looked like to gaze, from the stage, into the eyes of people truly joyous. Faces lit up. No fear, no anger, no judgement – it was a blessing for me.
Ah, so handsome in that dark suit! My children are pursuing the arts, music, acting, etc. I adore how you write this – the characters, the setting. I can’t wait to read future “proseries”
Thank you Margaret! How wonderful for your children to embrace the magic and wonders of the arts. Bravo, and kudos to them. Congratulations to you to be the mother of creative individuals. That speaks so positively to who you are. 🙂
I can feel the energy in the room as you tell this tale. Nice one
Happy Monday
Much???love
The joy and energy of those memories is so tactile and vivid for me Gillena. It would seem impossible that it not resonate right through time. They are etched in my soul.
I agree with Glenn on this one, Rob. I love the details, the smuggled single malt, crusty sunrise special and the different characters at the cirque du morning breakfast.
I based it in fact Kim, embellished for affect. That grounded the piece I feel, and gave it life. This essential scenario, populated by just these types of charachters, occured many times after our gigs.
Wow, you took me right into the seedy bar. Must have been fun, playing gigs and living the life back then.
Oh it certainly was Sherry, and just enough danger to season it all perfectly!
That must have been an amazing experience. I love the emotions condensed in your poem.
Among the best years of my life. Thank you cie!
You paint the scene well with a lot of heart and feeling.
Thank you Jane.
This is incredibly heartfelt Rob ???? It must have been amazing to be able to reconnect after all those years!
We had been in touch over the years Sanaa, but he hadn’t visitec in a number of years, so it will be great to see him!
Love that family that’s sitting together right there!
Thee was a slightly different group at every breakfast TP, crazy wonderful children of the night!
cirque du morning madness…I love that. LOL. I have had my fair share of those. But the details…this haibun is different from my pared down brief Basho-like haibun. More like a short story of life. I hope you guys can all get together again. That would be so nice.
Some of the band has passed Toni, and the other peripheral characters at the table were a little different every 4:00 AM breakfast – but although I ialk with him from time to time, I haven’t seen Gene, my drummer, in a number of years… gonna be great!
Delightful Rob! I was once married to a lead guitar/lead singer. Lots of memories, some good, some bad. The good- I once had breakfast with Albert King and his band, I met the guys in the Romantics,I learned t appreciate breakfast at 3AM, and somewhere out there is a recording of me screaming on a soundtrack of a surf song he wrote called ‘Attack of the Bearded Clam’- LOL. The bad: He decided to leave the world at the ripe old age of 37 and I’ll never understand why..
That is incredible that you got to taste that lifestyle Linda, at leadt I think it was great. We were a band with big regionsl impact, so we opened for alot of the huge bands that came through Cincinnati, Santana, Alvin Lee & Ten Years After, Allman Bros, Yes, Jimi Hendrix, Holy Modal Rounders, Bowie, Jefferson Airplane, John Mayal & The BluesBreakers w/Eric Clapton, and a number more. It took backbone to get up on stage sometimes when the sudience is stoned snd impatient, screaming for the main act. But we had our own followers, so it was great many times
Thank — always exciting! So sorry about your loss Linda, but musicians and singers are temperamental and sensitive.
You wrote this so well I was right there, sitting at the edge, watching everything happening before my eyes.
Thank you Petru, pleased you enjoyed this! 🙂
Everyone was a musician back then. Garage and basement, clubs if you were lucky. So great you have kept in touch with your bandmates!
We had some regional success in the midwest, we toured the midwest for years. Like I commented to Linda here, we got to open for and know a lot of major bands. It was years of great fun Kerfe.
Totally loved your description of that wonderful “family of the night!”
It was surreal at times Tim, but always fun – and wonderfully crazy!
You have some great memories and describe them so well in just a few words. Well done! Hi, Edgrrr! 🙂
Thanks Crystal! Edgrrr says hi back… 🙂
The rhythm in this lends so well to recreating the atmosphere you’re describing. It has that relaxed, laid back pulse to it. Wonderfully written and thoroughly enjoyed.
Thank you Carol! Glad you liked it… 🙂
Sounds like you had some pretty wild times in your youth. It’s awesome you got to connect with your buddy again. LOL hopefully any partying you did while he visited didn’t hit you too hard.
He doesn’t get here until next week, and there will be laughs and stories and wonderful catching up – but at 72 with my health, it’s all gonna be very safe and sober Rommy… 🙂
a strange wonderful family of the night…love that …it is places like this we take off our layers and take in meaning we never knew existed…the music dictates the mood and memories that will be there tomorrow…obviously you retained them…very nice write…bkm
Thank you Barbara. I have been extremely lucky that my life has strung together as it has. I would like to say it was strategically planned, but it was fate steering me, which is precisely how I liked to live. When things were working, I kept in that direction. When they were not working, I chose another direction, and went. I don’t recommend it for everyone, but I have loved it!
I read this and then your interview with Poetry United, sounds like a lot of adventures and a lifetime spent with creative people. It’s lovely you had the opportunity to reconnect with your band mate. Thank you for sharing that with us and your wonderful poetry.
You are welcome Anna. I have been incredibly fortunate in my life.
What a fun memory to share.
Glad you enjoyed it Linda. It was a “flash semi-fiction” piece.
I love this. I love the atmosphere, the party, the smuggled scotch, and as a music lover, love the way it draws people together from every walk of life. You’ve created a wonderful place/memory here.
Thank you so much Sascha, I appreciate your kind words.