What a surprise to look up after a song and see Alan walking TOWARDS us! We stopped and he said “Hi!” and asked Amanda if he could see her bouzouki. They talked shop for a while, she showed him a book she had brought about music and he regaled us with the story of how we were standing in the exact spot where GBS played their first gig in America – right there on that subway vent! He explained that it was covered by a portable stage and a tent, and it rained the whole time. He looked around at the eight of us standing there and nodded, smiling. “Yeah we had about this many people watching. The nice people at the Somerville theatre allowed us to use their bathroom,” he remembered. He told us that they didn’t realize it was the same theatre and park till the bus pulled up that day. “We’re allowed to use the bathroom still,” he joked.
He played a little with Amanda’s bouzouki while she accompanied him on her bodhran. The rest of us were shell-shocked, I think. I wish I had the presence of mind to ask Alan to pose with us all, but the mind was not wrapping itself around the idea that Alan was jamming with us! |
