February 21, 2020 @ 9:47 AM
Crossroads Mall
San Antonio, Texas
I am slowly looking through my San Antonio list. I’ll always enjoy walking through the bends of the San Antonio RiverWalk, discovering something new around every turn. I heard a man singing in a talented yet bawdy voice, so I stepped inside the pub and took a seat. I had found a piano man, a man who knew a thousand songs, took requests and hoped for tips. He played a portable keyboard, quite expertly, sitting at a mirror so everyone could see his fingerwork and his mug as he sung. It was a handsome mug to be sure.
I smiled at him and he smiled back at me. “Let’s all wave and make this gentleman welcome”. And he went back to riffing on the theme of Willy Nelson’s “On the Road Again”. He would stop singing for a second at the famous parts. Shouldn’t everyone know the line, “On the Road Again, I Can’t Wait to Get On the Road Again”? So I bellowed out the words with everyone else.
I had stepped into an Irish Pub named Durty Nelly’s. It had old wood floors covered with peanut shells. I thought the place was called “Purdy Nelly’s”, which I liked more than Durty Nelly’s to be honest. But when I posted a video of this maniac singing, I saw Durty was preferred by the house. Durty Nelly had given away 516 pounds of peanuts, roasted in the shell, since some starting point. Maybe the first day of business.
I hung out for a few songs. I had to apologize to the waitress because it really was too early in the day to drink. Plus, I knew the drafts of Guinness would be oh so expensive. As much as I love downtown San Antonio, the district thinks like a tourist trap. I like a good beer and I like biergartens and pubs with great music. But when I pay above minimum wage in Texas for a pint of beer, seven twenty five, I blanch.
Maybe when I’m flush again I won’t think about it. I should have tipped him too because that’s the game when a piano man sings requests. A night of singing around a piano can only be surpassed by a night of singing with two musicians singing dueling piano.
I love the hot apple pies with coffee at McDonald’s. A nice McDonald’s in a historic building has two floors overlooking the river. I ordered a pair of hot apple pies, usually two for a dollar seventy five. Add a senior coffee and I have a glorious repast for around three dollars. I was staggered when the manager said, “That will be three dollars and forty two cents”. “That’s double the price”, I said. “Yes, but we’re across from the Alamo”, he explained. He kindly cut me a manager deal. The counter register and the ordering kiosk often charges different prices even. Geeze.
I will never call La Villita a tourist trap. On the map it is called La Villita Historic Arts Village. I wended my way from historical home to historical home, all turned into shops and restaurants. An architect named O’Neil Ford loved the district, and he led the team to make sure the buildings constructed before the Civil War would be protected as a village. The historic church serves as an event center. The church office distributes food to the poor. Three of the buildings house artist cooperatives, displaying views of Texas life that I found splendid and authentic.
One woman had sold a painting for one hundred dollars, but it was the only sale of the day. Every gallery, the staff was happy to see me because the chill had kept people away. I knew those beautiful paintings of bluebonnets and Texas skies at sundown would sell if you could get the images in front of enough eyes. "Have you considered selling through eBay? eBay is like this huge fishing pond where there's a fish for every baited hook it seems".
At the River Group Cooperative, three women were painting in watercolors while watching shop. They let me sit amongst them on an old chair as I posted a few videos. It was later in the afternoon, so they discussed dinner plans. “My husband has turned the heat down low on the stew I put in the crock pot this morning”, said one woman, painting a small picture. “Do you have anyone fixing dinner for you”, she asked me point blank. “Not today I’m afraid. I’m traveling solo”. It’s a sad fact of life that probably should soon change.
On the Road Again --- Willie Nelson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBN86y30Ufc
1 comment:
If you'll let me sweetie!! ; )
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