WALKING THE BLUES

Last night, we were out having cocktails and ended up as part of a group sitting at a table far too large for us. There was a two person table between us and the DJ booth, and as that table's occupant's finished their drinks, the older gentleman at the table leaned over to me and, in a Russian accent, told me that they were leaving and we could spread out. Before they went, though, he wanted to know about my shirt. I was wearing an old Manic Street Preachers long-sleeve that had an altered version the Harley Davidson logo, changed to read "Motorcycle Emptiness," the name of one of their finest songs.

"So this is a band you like, and you want to promote them?"
"Uh-huh."
"You have nothing against Harley Davidson."
"Oh, no. Not all."
"That is good. In Russia, I see people wearing the Harley Davidson shirts, so I wondered how this was connected."

He introduced himself as Yuri and he asked me what I did. I told him I was a novelist. He seemed impressed, for some odd reason. I asked him what brought him to our part of the world.

"I used to be a Soviet soldier, but now I am in America advising your military on how to create a counter-insurgency and deal with their problems."

Holy crap!

He left right then, so I didn’t get any further details, but wow! Here you think you're merely going to go home stinking of the smoke of some bored hipster, and you end up talking to the most intriguing, random person imaginable.

Current Soundtrack: Johnny Cash, The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983 disc 2

Current Mood: curious

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[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich