I blew through the doors of Hoover\u2019s as the clock neared eight<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and detected the sodden presence of Shifty and Shaky,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
two dubious locals, possibly loggers and lovers, who drove a 1975 maroon Vega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The joint was packed with its usual cluster of OTA fiends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was karaoke night but the machine was on the fritz. An OTA man was fixing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On my way to the bar, I passed a 400-pound man, obviously intoxicated, verging on collapse,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and a reedy dude with a wispy red beard and sideburns decorating his sallow face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He carried a pool cue in a case, dressed in red and white except for a black baseball cap turned sideways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wore a thick gold chain dangling to his waist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He brought to mind how a young Kris Kringle might have turned out had he sampled crystal meth and hip hop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ordered my beer and it was delivered within seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I took a drink, turned to my right, and came face to face with an older woman who informed me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman drifted away, drifted back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She looked straight at me, put her hands on my corduroy coat and said, \u201cI\u2019m looking at a real man, aren\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I could answer, she followed up with,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre you a rocker? Are you in the rock zone?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe rock zone? Where ‘s that?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, the rock zone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the most penetrating existential question I\u2019d ever been asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSure, I\u2019m there,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, you look like you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the most penetrating existential compliment I\u2019d ever received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The karaoke machine finally booted up,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
music blasted,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
someone began butchering \u201cCherry Pie,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the grandmother started dancing, drinking,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and a portal to the rock zone instantly opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many entered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was already there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I blew through the doors of Hoover\u2019s as the clock neared eight and detected the sodden presence of Shifty and Shaky, two dubious locals, possibly loggers and lovers, who drove a 1975 maroon Vega. The joint was packed with its usual cluster of OTA fiends. It was karaoke night but the machine was on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-poetry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9896"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9899,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9896\/revisions\/9899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}