davidvanwert.com

Andy Chudzinski and I went to go see eighty year old Alice “Alligator” Johnston sing at the Back Room last night. She was brilliant, but the crowd wasn’t. One particularly rowdy drunk eventually rowded too far, and right in the middle of “Baltimore Oriole” Miss Alice pulled out a switchblade and casually flipped it into his foot, though if you weren’t watching you wouldn’t have known because she never missed a note. Well, things went to hell and some idiot called the cops. Andy and I bailed right away because we were hungry and didn’t want to be witnesses.

Out on the street, we discovered that Andy’s car had been towed. An overgrown mimosa obscured the sign warning of that possibility. So instead of a late night breakfast at Brite Spot, we had a late night cab ride to the impound lot at 22nd and Alvarado. After Andy paid his fine, the toad behind the bulletproof glass slid us a lot number to find his car. Our steps echoed horribly through the garage. The car was humiliated. Andy felt guilty as hell so he filled it with Premium as an apology.