At the Crossroads.....

"Dear Lenny and Carol," I wrote on the card, "Crossroads Cafe gave me music and coffee and David Timms. Two old favorites and one new........."

The card was framed and given to the owners of a now closed coffee shop. MY coffee shop.

You know, I can think of dozens and dozens of coffee shops that I used to go to, and only two that are still in business. I think since the customers of coffee shops are people interested in live music, eventually it's just a bunch of musicians earning tips off each other. How long can that work?

I heard a couple of days ago that they were planning on closing, and my little heart broke. Nothing compared to how David and Chris and the gang feels, not to mention Lenny and Carol, but they can talk about that on the blogs they don't have (yet).

They keep trying to explain to me, the little VJ-come-lately, exactly how magical it all was, especially in the begining. Naturally they feel that I can't understand.
Of course I really can't. But I've had things like that in my life, where for a while everything was so RIGHT. Brent's college group, for one. That one year at Dance Camp. I know that feeling, that desire to hold on to it, even though everything in life has an ending. Not that we have to like it, of course.

But I had a taste of it all, that's why I became so hooked on that cafe. The music, the art on the walls, the iced jasmine tea, and most of all, the people. The fact that everyone sitting around you looked like they could be the next act, and quite frequently were.

Sunday night I was headed home after hanging with Lou (post of zoo-y Lou-ness to follow) when I got a call from David, who had just gotten a call from Lenny. "Come on down, it's our last night."

I was kinda worried about David. He seemed in such a rush to get there, but when we got there, it was like he couldn't seem to slow down. I felt like I needed to say something, do something, but I couldn't think what that could be. I actually resorted to saying "take a deep breath" at one point. But then the regulars sat down to play a last set, and by the middle of the second song, you could see that this is what they needed and he'd managed to sort himself out.
I'm glad they had that chance.

And as for me, and the time I spent at the Crossroads, I feel the same way. I'm glad I had the chance.