Outrageous Thoughts of Babble
by Peter Knight
1.12.99
I usually see Ronnie during the Christmas holidays—we have been meeting up for the past couple of years anyhow. Before that, there was a gap in time where we missed each other. The last time we consistently hung out with each other was during high school. A few years had been missed there; very influential years into adulthood. Nonetheless, we are in contact again. We usually hang out for a little bit, exchange gifts, and chat about this and that. But, this year it was slightly different: Slightly more involved and fun.I knew he was into the Chicago Bulls. Last year I gave him a Michael Jordan plaque. He loved it. I
thought the perfect gift this year was the Chicago Bulls baseball cap. We usually exchanged gifts of small amounts usually averaging ten dollars or so. It was the Sunday after Christmas and Elizabeth and I stood in his kitchen of his Brooklyn apartment as he handed me a box. He noted he did not know what to get me, but remembered that I used to love to play billiards.
I removed the wrapping and it revealed a pool cue case. At this point, I felt a little funny, cause I knew the case priced out to be well over ten dollars. I noted that he shouldn’t have and thanked him. He told me to open the case. I rested the case on the counter and flipped open the two latches. Inside rested a new fiberglass two piece cue stick with billiard designs on the butt end. I felt slightly flushed and thanked him over and over again. I put the cue together and took a few practice strokes. It was smooth as silk. I was speechless.
He noted he wanted to hang out in
Manhattan. This was unlike Ronnie to hang out in Manhattan. He hated crowds and tall buildings. He noted his friends’ band, Antigua, was playing in the Village and asked if we would like to join him.--
An hour later, we found ourselves in "The Elbow Room" club on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village,
witnessing what was known as New York City’s hottest Latino Rock Band, Antigua. And, I have to admit, they were extremely talented. Very very alternative. Some songs were soft, but most of them progressed to a point were everyone in the club was headbanging and smiling to one degree or another. As the night progressed, a mosh pit formed, and Elizabeth got to witness the first time in her life, what slam dancing was; note—witness, not participate.
In between songs, the singer would ad-lib to the audience, and I noted that they were soon going to play at CBGBs soon. I figured they must be very well recognized, for a band to play at that place, they must be on their way to being famous. What I actually heard announced was, Ba la la ba gua la la la 'CBGBs’ la ba gua gua. This is what Spanish sounds like to someone who does not speak it.
The show came to an end, and the audience hollered for an encore. They played a couple of more songs. Afterwards, the crowd near the stage dissipated and Ronnie, Elizabeth and I gravitated toward the stage. Ronnie started talking to a few people while Elizabeth and I stood there wondering our next move. I knew that they sold their own CDs near the front of the club. Elizabeth mentioned something about autographs. I ran to the front to grab a CD and ran back.
By this time, a crowd of people had formed around the band—this made them slightly inaccessible.
We hustled around the crowd for a few bits, but soon it became useless. More people were gathering.
Ronnie knew the bass player and noted to us that if we left the sleeve with him, he’d see to it that it would get signed. Ron-if you are reading this, please note that I now have a sleeveless CD of a Latino Rock band.
Nonetheless, for a Sunday after Christmas, this was fun.
Newsflash – Got a domain name (finally). It’s a little weird though. I have this URL forwarding service because I wanted to keep geocities, but it still works for the most part. Here’s the new URL http://www.outrageousthoughts.com
