Tuesday Night Tunes – Red Skirt
This all started because I was sitting in the Cafe at 12Stone church on Tuesday nights. I am here writing on most Tuesday nights and at the beginning of the evening I am surrounded by college age kids as they get ready for their worship service. I love the energy and passion these kids bring to life. It infuses me with energy and reinforces that twenty something inside me that is so confused about being trapped in this aging body (who is that gray haired old fart wearing my shirt in the mirror anyway?).
The group tonight I am featuring was brought to me today on NoiseTrade again. If you are not signed up to that thing you should be. These guys are called Samsel and the Skirt.
Here is their music from NoiseTrade if you want to listen to a bit more. You can download from the link or just listen here. If you like them follow the link and give em a tip. The artist is worth their money.
All this stuff tonight got me to thinking about the death of my favorite car. I had a 1965 Grand Prix. Red with white leather interior. It was perfect. The story will make sense in a minute if you’ll keep reading.
This car had a 389 cubic inch power house with a 4 bbl Rochester carburetor that developed 325 hp. It was fast, comfortable and I could haul 6 people if we really needed to. It could run the quarter in about 14 seconds and had a top speed of 136mph. It won MotorTrend’s Car of the Year. Awesome. It’s demise was the fault of a distraction and just a momentary lapse of judgement.
We were in Lebanon, IN one evening and my friend Richard and I were just ‘crusin’. No place to be really but in town looking for something to do. I was at the stop light across from the Avon Theater. I don’t actually remember what was playing but that was the year of movies like The Sting, The Exorcist, Magnum Force and American Graffiti.
The light changed to green but traffic was heavy and we were hardly rolling.
That was when I saw her. The girl in the red skirt. Not sure if it was really a mini skirt but that is how I remember it. She was cute and I as watching her as we were rolling into the intersection. Richard was fiddling with the radio so he was leaning forward, looking down so no one was looking out the windshield.
I hit that car stopped in front of me and Richard’s head hit the windshield. Hard. Hard enough to crack the glass. Ouch. He was yelling and bleeding, I was trying to figure out how to unbuckle the seatbelt and then the cop walked up.
Suffice it to say I got a ticket, Richard got stitches and I lost my car. It wasn’t total dead but it really was never going to be the same. It took about 6 months of work, a junk car for parts and some time back on the road to figure out the frame was bent and we were really done.
I loved that car. That lesson was expensive. I beat the ticket since the cop wrote it up for reckless driving and I was doing less than 25mph when we hit. The judge just didn’t buy the fact I was driving recklessly so the case was dismissed.
The cost to me was the loss of my favorite car, Richard’s trust and my hurt pride. What I gained was a lesson that I needed to watch the road, pay attention all the time and don’t be distracted by red skirts.
What lessons have you learned that cost you something?
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-231-1578 Cell