chevy 57 on a ride to remember

bars with bands are found in every crevice in a city that never sleeps. from the "dho u know wath im sayin" of filipino hip hop bands to slow cigarette lighter waving crowds screaming their drunken voices to the sounds of a procelain complexioned chinese female on her rendition of andy lau's "i wish i had two". but rarely does anyone find a bar dedicated to the rock hard bad boys of the 70s.

waiting for insurance papers to clear after a minor accident a friend and i were relaxing at muddy's when we ran into leanoard, a die hard music man from the band leo and boys, the soul of the party of bell bottomed men and frilly frocked women of the 80s. back in the days when i used to jam with equiilibirum, leonard used to come to us with oppotunities of open mic nights. leonard used to be a part of the resident band at the shangri-la hotel and when he asked us to join them that nite we didnt even hesitate.

driving to the place we realised that he wasnt travellin toward shangri-la but in the opposite direction. thats when he told us that the management had replaced the band for one that caters more to the chinese tycoons and that he was now playin at this palce called chevy 57.

from the outside it looked veryyyy bad. a tin roofed broken walled establishment with one bright neon sign in the shape of a chevy with the words 57 hung outside the only door to the bar. me and eli walked in disappointed that a man once soo recognised had to be reduced to this. but inside the place was a real piece of preserved heaven. instruments, decor, the crowd the price of a beer all remain unchanged from the 70s. they even had a lap steel guitar bang in the centre of the stage. the music was loud and catchy and when leonard asked me up on stage to join them in playing the doobie brothers (long train running), john cougar mellencamp (hurt so good) and deep purple (highway star) i grew nervous. for one i haven't touched the bass guitar in over 8 months and i havent played on stage in a year and i had just one leg left to rest on. leonard being the player that he always is didnt take no for an answer. at sound levels that high every wrong note is amplified and after a couple of falso starts and nervous sweats things went soo good that for those 15 mins on that stage, playing to a crowd that had already seen three quarters of their lives gone by screaming and jumping with all the virilty that would make a teenager ashamed, i wished time would never end. and never has my leg hurt so good. thank you leonard, chris, julia, muz and zul (for giving me ur spot)!!

really makes me wanna play again, i miss the adrenaline surge and the brain rush. and maybe in 30 years from now ill be among a crowd of old drunken men and women who have to get back home to their families and work at 1 in the mornin, dancing along to the sounds of timbaland and akon.

All old flames should look and feel this good!!