I left the house with no need to watch the clock, but it was though everything had been planned. Most of the day I was in the yard of Steve Steel, whom I had never met before. We soon became good friends- and it wasn’t just the Katie’s Randy Cat. We solved all the world’s problems, and then we called Ed.
I could hear Papa Teague before I saw him. If I had not heard him, I would have missed his performance, which would have been my loss. He is outstanding, mixing his originals in amongst some great covers.
John Howard, the King of the Old West End Festival. He told me about his radio station, and how the night before, a band had spontaneously started playing Devo songs. Somebody in the audience jumped up to sing along and occassionally jumped off the porch.
Papa Teague incognito.
Papa Teague nonincognito.
Irish punk stuff at Steve’s, and a discussion of Gaelic as well. (Maith: a Gaelic word, the correct pronunciation is something like ‘moth’, but I say it like ‘Faith’.) After a few hours of Irishness, it was almost like a hallucination to walk back into the reality of the Old West End and unexpectedly see the Irish flag in front of this amazing building.
The Old West End Festival was over. The remains of the day and the quiet were mine alone.
