So, still at the blues bar I was applying for a job at, I had a slightly surreal conversation with the guy who was doing the hiring.
Before I get into the story, I didn’t get hired yet, and nothing’s going to happen until Mama, the owner, gets back from Italy on the 20th, and he talks to the rest of the staff about whether they can accomodate another bartender.
Anyway, they were having a jam session, and this guy Harmonica Khan got up on stage. Little old black dude, looked a little crazy, but I tend to give crazy-looking musicians the benefit of the doubt, because many of them are, in fact, a little nuts, but still cool people.
Now, bear in mind that I consider this to be more of a humorous than threatening situation when you read the conversation. Of course, I have a really sick sense of humor, so that might contribute.
Anyway, Tony, the guy, was telling me about the various guys jamming when the follwing conversation occured. This is not our exact conversation, because my memory’s not that good, but it’s a fairly accurate facsimile.
Tony: Yeah, the harmonica player just got out of jail after 26 years.
Me: 26 years? For what?
Tony: Oh, he killed some guy in a fight.
(pause)
Me: Well, that’ll do it.
Tony: Yeah, he had mentioned when I booked him he just got out of jail, but he didn’t say for what. And when they don’t say, I don’t ask, ’cause I don’t wanna know.
Me: Understandable.
Tony: Here’s how I found out…
And he handed me a copy of the Chicago Reader, which had this story about his situation. It’s an interesting little article, but I hope for society’s sake 26 years in the clink cleansed Mr. Khan’s soul of any need for troublemaking…
Like I said, for some reason, the whole situation was much more funny than weird to me, although it’s certainly an aspect of the interview that I’ll leave out when I talk to my parental units about it. Somehow, I doubt they’d be comforted by this anecdote.
It definitely seems like a fun place to work, but hopefully by the 20th I’ll have some gainful employment. Otherwise, it could turn out to be a really interesting job.