At the Counter

Verble leans over the counter and shoves this under my nose and tells me, "You've gotta get check out this site . . . I mean, the title alone says it all!"

I read it. "http://www.topacousticsongs.com/?" I ask.

"Yeah! All my life I've been waiting for this moment! A website that does nothing but give me acoustic songs!"

I'm tempted to say, "You're a very lonely man, aren't you?" but something in the gentle innocent cheer of his demeanor (that, and he's got about ten million more friends than I do) helps me to put my sarcasm in check and breakout my notepad to start seeing who I might be able to get to come in and play some Saturday afternoon well into the night.

Overheard at Booth 2

Belgium Mercado: What's that one part of the Bible where it talks about putting your mind on
good things? "Think about good things and you'll be happy" - or something like that . . .





Independence Peaks: Wait! Wait! I've got it on my phone . . . here it is:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.







Belgium Mercado: Right, that's it. So if I just keep thinking good thoughts, I'll have a great life, right?

Independence Peaks: I don't think it's all as simple as that. I take it as a kind of holistic litmus test, kind of a 'clear your mind of all the bad karma' type of stuff.

Belgium Mercado: Isn't that mixing your religions?

Independence Peaks: More like a cross-cognation of terminology.

Belgium Mercado: You confuse me sometimes.

Independence Peaks: But that's a good thing, right?

Belgium Mercado: I don't know. I'll think about it.

Overshouldered at the Counter

I'm looking over your shoulder as you are looking at the NPR webpage and we are reading this article, and I tell you, "Man, a Republican who is a true Christian!"

And you reply, "I knew there was at least one."

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/20/131474413/exiting-inglis-laments-conservatism-s-derailment?ft=1&f=1001

Overheard at Booth 4: Temporary Security Essential Liberty

Billy: Heard this crud on the teevee the other night about the old Ben Franklin saying that those who will give up essential liberty for the sake of temporary security deserve neither.

Joe: Yah, that's from some Republican news station. They talkin' 'bout this health care, it's temporary security but givin' up our freedom from invasive gummint.

Jim: Seems to me like they should be talkin' about that there tapping our phones without gettin' a court order - or holding US citizens without charges or trial. Seems to me like THAT's a lot more worser.

Bob: When did they do all that?

Billy: Where you been? It's called the Patriot Act. George Bush. Yer right. THAT's some dang invasion of givin' up our essential liberty.

Joe: Direct contradiction to the Bill of Rights. Obama's carried it forward too, even though he promised to stop that Shi'ite.

Jim: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. Where'd I hear that one?

Bob: Vodka commercial?

Billy: Don't be an eejit. But what gets me is that we let this all slide, we let the government steal our ability to defend ourselves in court, our right to keep our library records private, our right to keep government from listening in on our phone calls, we gave ALL that up, just so al-quayda won'b bomb us no more, but we don't want them to make sure that no more bombers get on the plane.

Joe: You mean them scanners what can tell the size of yer johnson?

Jim: Heh - that'd have to be a really BIG scanner!

Bob: Heh, heh! Good'un.

Billy: That's exac'ly what I'm talkin' 'bout. I swear, we get all our panties in a wad over the scanners, and yet we give up the big ones.

Joe: That's because we're visual. If we don't see it, we let gummint take it away. The scanners is something tangible.

Jim: You mean we're a visual based society?

Bob: Nah, he's saying we Americans are stupid.

Billy: Dang right. We're ignorant of our own rights, but we're shootin' our mouths off about it all the time.

Joe: Sometimes when I really think about what we're doing to ourselves in this county, it gets me so mad it just makes my stomach hurt!

Workbook

"Bob Mould, right when he quit Husker Du, this is what he came out with. I always thought that he had been storing up these gems, but they show what the acoustic guitar can do, when it's layered over eighteen times, making his Wall of Sound.

"That's what I always liked about this guy, on both Husker Du, his own stuff, and with Sugar - he always has what sounds like a hundred guitar parts on every song, but it's always coherent, like some rich tapestry. I always consider it as he doesn't make one album, he makes five albums and then puts them to one disc, so you're listening to all five at the same time.

"And," Verble continues, "what I'm really proud about displaying this little beautiful album cover is that it's also great art, not just a great acoustic album, but a fantastic piece of art in and of itself. Reminds me of the work by Nick Bantok - the guy who did the Griffen and Sabine books, or the I Spy books.

"Regardless, beautiful, it is. Simply beautiful."

Overheard at the Counter: Letters to Juliet

John Steppenwolf said, "The wife and I really really enjoyed Letters to Juliet. The kids loved it too, well, not my son, who thought it was 'simpery' and went to his room to practice his zombie-killin'"

"A very noble passtime," Verble interjected.

"But my daughter loved it. That surprised me, I thought she wouldn't love anything that didn't have vampires in it, but it was nice, finally, to watch a movie that didn't have teenagers licking each other's nether regions or psycho killers dismembering said teenagers immediately afterwards, so much that you don't really know exactly WHAT is in those gobs of liquid flying at the screen . . ."

"Omigod, fer gosshakes stop it already!" said the Barista.

"Oops, sorry," said Steppenwolf. "Forgot where I was there for a minute. But seriously, this is a sweet sweet movie, something about Italy just inspires these kind of love stories . . ."

"Yeah, now I remember," said Niall Carter, "That's the one where this girl goes on a pre-wedding honeymoon with her restauranteur/fiancee and she starts answering letters that lonelyhearts women stuff into a brick wall . . . "

"and she answers the one from fifty years before, and it brings the woman back to Italy to find her Romeo, yeah, that's it."

"That's a beautiful one," said Niall.

"It sure is."

"Man, I think I'd love to be able to go back and find my true love after fifty years," mused the Barista.

Verble looked at her, "Sorry, young lady, you've got to be at least 65 before you can even think about doing that. That means you've got about 45 years to go!"

"42," the Barista corrected him, "but thanks for the compliment."

"Of course, my young lady, but of course."

Photo left on the counter

"Looks beautiful," someone says.

"Where d'ya think it is?" says someone else.

"I dunno, there's no writing on the back."

"Europe, maybe? Like Sweden or somewhere?"

"Definitely Europe. Maybe even Iceland."

"Is Iceland in Europe?"

"I think it kinda semi-sorta is, could be."