Emmylou

I saw Emmylou Harris at the bowl last night ..she was singing with former members of Dire Straits. Now, I’ve been following Emmylou for a long time ..ever since the early days when she played the local colleges with Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. I sort of have a of a soft spot for her. I’ve been to just about every one of her bowl appearances over the last 10 years. However, I’ve never been what you’d call a Dire Straits fan ..never seen them in concert ..but I like them ..even have a few of their CD’s .. ‘Love over gold’ and ‘Brothers in Arms’ ..but I sort of lost track of them. I never imagined I’d ever see them play together. So, here I am ..8th row center ..watching Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler singing duets like ‘Michelangelo’ and ‘Why Worry’. Emmylou was wearing bright green snake-skin boots ..very cool. I look around ..and it’s like I’m in a hippie colony ..there are a lot of grey beards ..Birkenstocks ..organic dresses ..and that sweet old smell of something. I look at the people in the seats next to me ..a young lesbian couple on my left ..and an even younger, straight couple ..almost high school age ..sitting on my right. Surprising. The two young women share some of their pot with me. They dance to tunes like ‘Espresso love’ and ‘Sonny Liston’. They keep yelling: “louder” ..and complain about all the ‘ballads’ ..they want to rock and roll ..and head down toward the stage. The quiet couple sitting next to me enjoy everything ..they ask me where the ‘noisy girls’ went ..I tell them they needed more volume ..and laugh. We listen to some really beautiful duets like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Far away’. Afterwards I ask them whether they are Emmylou fans or Dire Straits fans ..half expecting them to say Dire Straits ..they say: “Ohhh, Emmylou by far”. (However, we all agree that Dire Straits are fine too.) That’s great, I say ..surprising but great. He tells me he’s in a band ..and that his father turned him on to all the greats like Gram Parsons, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. She says she was a go-go dancer at the Whiskey in Los Angeles. That makes sense, a lot of rock legends started out there. She tells me that's where she met her boyfriend ..he was playing in a high school ‘battle of the bands’ show while she was dancing on the stage. I wonder if his father could of ever imagined that. Ahhh, but they were really sweet. Gram Parson’s fans ..I would of never imagined that.