Jim and Me in Savannah
I’m so happy to be playing with Jim White again, this time in my hometown. Come!
Friday, May 23, 7:30pm
Trinity United Methodist Church
Early enough that my son can hear me play.
Home
I had the great pleasure of playing Grocery on Home in Atlanta last night with Jim White. Grocery on Home is one of my favorite venues. Matt Arnett, the proprietor, is nice as nice can be (he brought me herbal tea with honey when I told him I was sick). The audiences there are like a giant family–supportive and attentive and warm. And, as always, Jim White blew me away. It was so great to be able to share a stage with him again. Matt Jarrard of Atlanta’s Oryx and Crake and Book Club backed me up on cello and did a stupendous job. I only wish he was visible in this photo.
Lyrics: “Meet You at the Bus” by Dare Dukes
Look up dear, it’s a the black and blue sky.
Feel underfoot where sidewalk cries.
‘Twixt ourselves there is salvation.
I can feel it when we’re kissing at the station.
Chorus:
I will meet you at the bus,
meet you at the bus (the bus!)
I will meet you at the bus,
meet you at the bus (the bus!)
Let’s be reckless just the two of us.
Let’s meet at the bus
Parents, priests, and neighbors
Don’t get the ache we suffer in this
Terrarium with gasoline grass. Just
Two lovely creatures pressed against the Plexiglas.
We’re not scared of their curfew.
We lost faith in bullets and church pews,
The Las Vegas lipstick shrines
Cannot compare with the flashing yellow lines.
Chorus
I hear the angels’ melodies:
Wheels spinning to far off cities.
Our hiding place in our arms.
And this bus ticket is our lucky charm.
I will meet you at the bus.
Lyrics: “Ghosts of Christmas” by Dare Dukes
The Christmas lights they flicker red, green, and white,
Hung in the baggage claim by an irate overtime janitor.
This time of year it’s crazy ’round here.
Elbows and packages crammed into cabs with drunken strangers.
Chorus
The children chew on cellophane.
While the fat actor rings for pocket change
This time of year it’s crazy ‘round here.
This time of year it’s crazy here.
CNN calls for blizzard through the East.
We at the terminal bar share a laugh and reach for cell phones.
Outside the shapes of planes stuck at gates covered in snow.
We are ghosts of Christmas and we’re cheered to never get home.
Chorus
Fa la la la la la la…
Bloodshot and tipsy we flirt between Parchese moves,
Avoiding questions about the relations pictured in wallets.
A touch the hand when peanuts are passed back and forth.
In my eyes I suspect you surmise my love of airports.
The terminal’s quiet as the sick and tired snore and wheeze.
We are the ghosts of Christmas and we have all we need.
We are the ghosts of Christmas and we do not need.
Chorus
Fa la la la la la la…
Mailman Song
Zim Dukes and Dare Dukes rough out their next hit single, Mailman Song, a tender ballad about love, loss, and man’s inhumanity to man.
