Blues Wait for No Man

During each Taco Tuesday dinner, we try to listen to something Tex-Mexey or bluesy or country rockish. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve exposed the girls to the Eagles, the acoustic stylings of Peter Frampton, and, of course, Stevie Ray Vaughan, with and without his brother Jimmy.

Listening to “Tightrope” last night I suddenly recalled the valuable life lesson Stevie Ray imparted to me. One, alas, that I often do not take to heart. I did not bring it up at dinner, but in my mind, I relived events of over two decades in the past.

Bob: Hey LE, Stevie Ray Vaughan tickets are going on sale.

LE: Just Stevie Ray?

Bob: No – it’s some festival thing. Eric Clapton is playing –

LE: (eyebrows raise as he considers ...)

Bob: but so is Bon Jovi –

LE: (makes a sour face ...)

Bob: But hey, we both love us some Stevie Ray Vaughan.

LE: That we do, Bob. That we do.

(five minutes pass ...)

Bob: So, wanna get tickets?

LE: Nah. I’ll see him when he comes around again.

If you’re in the know, you may have guessed that this conversation took place sometime in the spring of 1990. A few weeks later Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash, flying through fog coming back from a gig. Though I had three CDs of his at the time, though I often jammed with my Les Paul to his music, I never saw the man play live.

Because I made a decision to put it off.

Flash forward twenty or so years to a more erudite, more bookwormish family guy embracing his inner nerd. I’m 11.5 percent done with my goal of reading through Shakespeare’s plays, something I’ve put off for years. I’ve made a decision, with the wife as my partner, to overhaul our diets and begin an exercise regimen. And I have three novels in various stages from nebulous idea to free-form outline. Just gotta pick one and start writing, an hour a day. If I started this today, I’d have a third completed novel by spring of 2012. Oh yeah, and I need to get back on the horse trying to sell the other two novels. I’ve had an idea how to do that for a few months now that I have not acted on.

These things all flashed through my mind during that awesome, extended and yet oh-so-brief, guitar solo that closes out that masterpiece of fast blues, “Tightrope.”