collegeville station

i can't remember now if i ever blogged about my saturday night gig
if i have then this will be a bit of a restating what
i may have before typed out
on saturday nights i do this music thing
where i sit in this large room and i play
all kinds of american roots music
and it is for the most part a performance that
is all but ignored which i have come to appreciate
and earlier in the day i had a conversation with
Pat the mandolin player or big red as he's known
in some parts out yonder
and i was expressing some anxiety about
putting energy into something which seemed to have
run its course one of those towns
which must have existed probably still do
where the railroad tracks just stopped
the only way out is to go backwards
but big red prevailed upon me and said he wanted to
get out of the house tonite anyway
so we said alrighty then let's just go there
and pick out our tunes again why don't we

well lo and behold there were at one point over 20
college kids just sitting there in rapt attention
and responding enthusiastically to music
they had never heard
although i was impressed with one student who
knew some obscure dylan tunes

while playing Hickory Wind
i heard a harmonica and i looked up and a young man was hearing the right key
and he just piped right in and took the solo like it was the billionth sunrise
and almost made me cry
but i got through the last verse by god
but that was a nice moment in what collegeville station
has been trying to do

alex sat with his laptop computer
doing what i don't know
he claimed theology
i think the guy was recording me
and sending it out live
i don't care
i don't trust anyone with a laptop anymore
they could be spies

and after a sad and haunting finale of
pancho and lefty
i packed up and came back to the monastery
to type these words for the blog news room
of global possibility

the station is picking up there's a monkey
runnin across the floor
maybe the trains will run after all

check out the collegeville station express