Fly On The Wall

I am a FLY on the Wall!

“If I could just be a fly on the wall”, these are words I heard before I could even understand them. Now as I think of the years I have spent following my son to his gigs, I have come to realize that I HAVE BEEN THAT FLY ON THE WALL for years!

Eric Erdman (my youngest son) began playing gigs when he had just finished high school and had just begun his journey to a degree in statistics at the University of South Alabama. The music provided him with spending money, most of which he spent on more guitars, amps, cables and etc to enhance his burgeoning music career. 

His first official gig was at a music venue/bar on Dauphin Street called Southside Music Hall. It was located on the south side of Dauphin, hence the name. Many college kids and college aged kids attended this bar that buzzed with their goings and comings as they were learning about life and trying to become adults. I met most of them and remain friends with most of them today as they are full fledged adults. It has been quite an experience watching them go through their lives, some with great perspective and focus, others not so much. Yet, all of them are wonderful.

One night Eric's cover band, Method To Madness, was playing and the place was filled. I found a spot to sit a little bit back from the closely packed group of kids that were sometimes  prone to get rowdy as the night progressed.

It turned out there were other people who wanted to stay out of the fray and had found the same area. This area of the room gave us a sense of relative safety, yet allowed us to still feel that we were a part of it all. The show was going great when a cowboy came in; he made an entrance much like what you see in the movies where they saunter through the swinging doors of a saloon and size up the situation. All of us nerdy people in our safe zone saw him at that moment and our eyes stuck on him like a bug that smacks into your windshield at 80 miles per hour; we were not letting go any time soon. After the cowboy looked around, he headed over to the bar and slid onto the first stool available, spreading his elbows on the bar as if to claim that space as his own. We all sorta figured he would get a big mug of beer with a foam on top, but he ordered a glass of red wine. What a shock! He was a large guy dressed all in black with leather chaps, silver tipped boots, a fancy cowboy hat, a huge belt buckle with a horse emblazoned on it, drinking a glass of red wine with his pinkie finger raised as he sipped. For some reason, we looked at each other and burst into laughter. It was just odd. There was 5 or 6 of us but our minds were in sync most of the time.

As the night progressed, the cowboy had loosened up with all that wine and he began to slip into the crowd. He had been sizing up the young ladies from across the room and it appeared that he now had enough liquid courage to approach a couple of them.

It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The cowboy approached a cute little red headed girl near the stage who had been dancing to “Love Rollercoaster” and I suppose he liked the way she danced. She shrugged him off and would not give him any consideration.

After three or four failed attempts, he spied his perfect match. She wore boots, jeans, a big silver belt buckle with a horse shoe on it and it was like peanut butter met jelly. They meshed immediately. I watched them dance off and on the rest of the evening and when it was near closing time, they slipped out the door, arm in arm, looking like they had been together for years.

I don’t know if the cowboy and that girl are still together or even if they finished that night together. But to me they sure seemed to have met their Soulmates (if there is such a thing). If I was playing a game and it was a challenge to match puzzle pieces, these two would have been a perfect match. 

But life is a more complex puzzle, with consideration for more things than looking alike, or dressing alike. So many things must be in place to make a lasting relationship, especially one that is happy. I have enjoyed the reaction and interaction of people for years now and it is all fascinating to me as I remain this little fly on the wall of life.