Subject: Salinger's floor...
Omlor@aol.com
Date: Sat Sep 30 2000 - 16:48:55 GMT
Spent last night at Annie Moore's -- a small Irish pub on St. Pete Beach
owned by a young Dublin couple just settled here. The singer was one of
those traditional Irish sing-a-long music types that plays the pub circuit
around here. During his set he mentioned that he lived most his young adult
life in a tiny town in Vermont (Bella something -- I've forgotten the name,
but the guy next to me knew the village). During the break, the singer and I
struck up a conversation -- since I know most of the music types here on the
beach and we had friends in common. I mentioned that I had been to New
Hampshire once or twice but didn't really know anything about Vermont and
without any further prompting he begins telling me a slightly amazing story.
In the mid 1960s ('65 was his guess) he was working for a local contractor.
They got a flooring job and the next thing you know his boss tells him he's
going to be putting in a floor for "some guy named Jerry."
The singer admitted to not really having read any Salinger (he has since
then) or really knowing much about who he was except for the obvious local
legends, but he spent the better of part of the next week putting in a
kitchen floor and repairing some other parts of the Salinger house.
Interestingly, he said Salinger was a steady talker, engaging the workmen in
regular conversations about everything, especially their work, and that he
was " A nice guy. Just a regular guy. Liked to talk. Real friendly."
Those are direct quotes.
This all sounded pretty honest in the telling. I don't think this guy had
any reason to make this up -- at the time he didn't even know I had any
interest in the man or in literature. But it was a funny little conversation
and an interesting little anecdote from someone who just thought the man
living in the house was a fairly good guy who "really needed a new floor."
Just thought I'd share.
--John -- who shot a solid 79 this afternoon but only made twenty bucks third
place money because his team fell a bit short of their quota. Missed a short
put on thirteen though, and a six footer for birdie on fourteen. Figure I
ought to post each of my scores here on the list just to keep Scottie smiling.
----------------------------------------
"I said babe you look delicious and you're standing very close.
But this is lower Broadway and you're talking to a ghost."
-- *What A Shame About Me* from the latest Steely Dan
the song also includes the lines:
"I was grinding through my day gig stackin' cutouts at the Strand
When in walks Franny from NYU; we were quite an item back then.
We talked about her films and shows and CDs and I don't know what else.
She said, "Yeah, Hollywood's been good to me
"But tell me -- how about yourself?"
"I'm still working on my novel, but I'm just about to quit
"Cause I'm worrying about the future now or maybe this is it.
"It's not all that I thought it would be.
"What a shame about me."
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