| Who's Pete Glover's friend |
pete glover was a guy who once asked me to help him sell his gibson byrdland (which i did), insisting i give the money to a priest who had been holding the guitar and who'd hold the cash cuz pete didn't trust himself (i was 22 at the time and pete hadda been at least 40.)
a couple years earlier, pete and these two guys i never saw before or afterwards showed up at the pad i was watchin for a woman named marian. outside it was a bitter cold detroit january wednesday midnite. they were a bit disappointed to learn marian and her friends weren't around (she was workin some kinda wickedness in ann arbor). i guess they were so sure we couldn't help them find whatever it was he (or they) wanted the question was never asked.
in any event, we had a couple guitars, and at least one was in constant use whenever there was someone at home and awake. my friends and i had been watchin tv while playing and talking for a couple hours when these guys showed up. we all talked about the weather and learned everyone was doin okay, etc. and then, after they'd warmed up for a bit, pete mouthed something to one of the guys and asked us if they could check out the guitars.
someone--maybe glover hisself--had told me he played bass, but i'd never heard him. they got comfortable and began running scales and warmed up their fingers while everyone kept making small talk. after a few, they stopped talking and a lil bit later so did we cuz--without saying anything to each other--they'd begun playing seriously.
somewhere over the rainbow.
but not any 'rainbow' i'd ever heard.
i really can't describe it any better than to say it floated around and over the rainbow taking on different textures and tempos without ever wandering too far from the original melody that they couldn't go home again.
this went on for what seemed like hours, but was really no longer than 15-20 minutes, and there was never anything outta place. it was a totally impromptu performance that couldn't have been more in sync if they'd been rehearsing for weeks. pete did mostly chordwork while his friend scatted and improvised with four fingers on both hands.
when they stopped playing, it was really quiet for a couple beats...like we were in a trance...and then my friends and i finally exhaled at once. none of us could say much more than 'wow'.
pete said somethin bout how he wished he could go over that mfing rainbow. both of em laffed and they put the guitars up, stood up and slipped into their coats. we were still flipped out, sorta stunned by what theyd done.
i was trying to tell the other guy how impressed i was at his playing. he seemed sorta embarassed and was grinning just a lil bit.
'hey man,' he said. 'i don't really play guitar. i play piano. keyboard is my instrument.'
i told him if guitar wasn't his instrument, i wasn't sure i could handle hearing him play piano.
he laffed and all three of em hit the door.
