Street Music

This is a re-post from 2013. Sitting at home, waiting out the pandemic so that we can get back into the world, these are the kinds of things I look forward to…

Walking home from the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

The warmth of the day lingers as the sun begins to set and the mad energy of Rome in the daytime dissipates into the coolness of Rome in the evening.

I hear music. Very pretty, contemporary music. A single guitar.

We hang around near the musician, his music gently holding us as we take pictures of the sun going down over St. Peters.

I am chill. Chill as any cat has the right to be.

Campo dei Fiori, Rome. Afternoon. We stop for apples, crisp, green, sweet. Wash them in one of the thousands of ancient spouts pouring potable, fresh water. Tourists mill about, Romans walk through the market on their way somewhere very important (it is always very important) and locals stop to chat with stall-keepers.

A quick, staccato beat is pulsing through the air. A saxophone is breezing along at a playful clip. Three musicians, calm, confident and even a little bored, are playing a quick, swinging number with an infectious melody.

I bite into my apple and the juice runs down my chin.

Walking through Florence on a muggy afternoon. The thunder-clouds are gathering and the crowds growing fatigued. In the midst of a big square, dazzling jazz violin is being played, accompanied by a jumping bass beat and lively rhythm guitar.

My pulse picks up and my ears say "jeezus, these guys are good!"

I watch for a moment, as they interact like old friends, each of them cooler than all of my coolest days combined and multiplied by ten. Wherever we were heading just doesn't seem so important anymore.

A heatwave-hot afternoon in Bonn. We had been on a cruise down the Rhine and a long, hot car ride through the surrounding green lushness of Germany in late spring. We had just finished a snack of curry-wurst and cold beer.

Music from an alleyway. A jaunty swing. Let's check it out. We come upon a mini-orchestra of hep-cats with guitars and a stand-up bass, being led by a square looking gent playing a mean clarinet.

MAJOR BONUS - two lovely young German couples dancing just like I imagine they did back in the old days.

Suddenly I am in love with everyone. I want to invite them all home to play music and dance while I pick up my feet and watch, until the air cools down and I fall asleep, a swinging beat playing in my dreams.