| THE MAN |
Young and curious, crusin’ the
street,
my partner and I, with life at our
feet.
Beautiful days of summer’s ilk,
and beautiful ladies with legs of
silk.
Miles on the box with Thelonious
in tow,
playin’ ‘Round Midnite, with
nothin’ but soul.
Miles was moanin’, Thelonious
was Monk,
our senses were spinnin’--our
top in the trunk.
Down Century Boulevard, past
Sportsman Park,
north on Crenshaw, Can’t wait
‘til it’s dark.
Crenshaw was jammin’, not like
today,
with cognitive people, who went
their own way.
Cadillacs gleamin’, prosperity
galore,
ladies a struttin’, that gait I
adore.
The ‘hood left behind, no denial
or shame,
these were the people who’d
mastered the game.
Dreamin’ and crusin’, yet,
chained to the ‘hood,
but into an element we both
understood.
Jazz was the thing that had lured
our route,
and no chain of poverty was
keepin’ us out!
‘Cause THE MAN was in town,
with his mighty ax,
and was jammin’ that night at
Dynamite Jack’s.
So anxious to worship THE MAN
in the flesh,
the first thing that mornin’ we
started to dress.
In our youthful exuberance we
saw nothin’ wrong,
with the hours to kill before HE
would go on.
Hence, there we were with
nothin’ to do,
THE MAN’S first note at 9, it was
now only 2.
So we went to a park on Rodeo
Road
and proceeded to get in our
mack-daddy mode.
We needed two women with
presence and class,
two women who also could dig
modern jazz.
We lucked-out, no doubt, with
Debra and Gwen,
two sisters out trippin’ in their
step-father’s Benz.
These women were ladies we
soon recognized,
not only quite lovely but
exceedingly wise.
street,
my partner and I, with life at our
feet.
Beautiful days of summer’s ilk,
and beautiful ladies with legs of
silk.
Miles on the box with Thelonious
in tow,
playin’ ‘Round Midnite, with
nothin’ but soul.
Miles was moanin’, Thelonious
was Monk,
our senses were spinnin’--our
top in the trunk.
Down Century Boulevard, past
Sportsman Park,
north on Crenshaw, Can’t wait
‘til it’s dark.
Crenshaw was jammin’, not like
today,
with cognitive people, who went
their own way.
Cadillacs gleamin’, prosperity
galore,
ladies a struttin’, that gait I
adore.
The ‘hood left behind, no denial
or shame,
these were the people who’d
mastered the game.
Dreamin’ and crusin’, yet,
chained to the ‘hood,
but into an element we both
understood.
Jazz was the thing that had lured
our route,
and no chain of poverty was
keepin’ us out!
‘Cause THE MAN was in town,
with his mighty ax,
and was jammin’ that night at
Dynamite Jack’s.
So anxious to worship THE MAN
in the flesh,
the first thing that mornin’ we
started to dress.
In our youthful exuberance we
saw nothin’ wrong,
with the hours to kill before HE
would go on.
Hence, there we were with
nothin’ to do,
THE MAN’S first note at 9, it was
now only 2.
So we went to a park on Rodeo
Road
and proceeded to get in our
mack-daddy mode.
We needed two women with
presence and class,
two women who also could dig
modern jazz.
We lucked-out, no doubt, with
Debra and Gwen,
two sisters out trippin’ in their
step-father’s Benz.
These women were ladies we
soon recognized,
not only quite lovely but
exceedingly wise.
We spoke of Dizzy, Dexter,
Thelonious and Bird,
and all of the monsters of jazz
that we’d heard.
Then just as our session was
starting to end,
Gwen mentioned Dolphy, and we
at it again.
We partook of the bush, we had a
few beers,
by 8 it was like we’d been partyin’
for years.
But now it was time to hit
Dynamite Jack’s,
to hear THE MAN blow, sip Scotch
and relax.
We followed the ladies up into the
hills,
to a fabulous pad, must’ve cost a
few bills.
We dropped off my car, then got
in the wind,
we split to see HIM, and my
journey began.
Dynamite Jack’s was the place to
be,
there seemed to be thousands of
new things to see.
Doctors, lawyers, pimps and
“whoes”,
dope fiends with their nostrils
froze;
perverts, politicians (one and the
same),
everyone seemed to have some
kind of game.
At 16 years old I was really
impressed,
with this flash, this glitz, this
flamboyant success.
I knew before long, that my turn
would come,
I’d shoot for the stars, at least,
out of the slum.
Then HE came on stage to a
mighty roar,
as bustling humanity hung all out
the door.
A quiet MAN, of knowledge and
taste,
yet HIS presence sent a chill
through the place!
Flash became silence, glitz bled to
awe,
pure greatness just glistened from
THIS MAN we saw;
no posturing, no swagger, no
hipster-like mack,
just unfettered greatness, the
essence, in fact....
That one precious moment, I
gaped at the stand,
my young reckless mind would
take hold as a man.
That moment estranged from the
kid that I’d been,
life’s door was flung wide, a new
man would step in.
Thelonious and Bird,
and all of the monsters of jazz
that we’d heard.
Then just as our session was
starting to end,
Gwen mentioned Dolphy, and we
at it again.
We partook of the bush, we had a
few beers,
by 8 it was like we’d been partyin’
for years.
But now it was time to hit
Dynamite Jack’s,
to hear THE MAN blow, sip Scotch
and relax.
We followed the ladies up into the
hills,
to a fabulous pad, must’ve cost a
few bills.
We dropped off my car, then got
in the wind,
we split to see HIM, and my
journey began.
Dynamite Jack’s was the place to
be,
there seemed to be thousands of
new things to see.
Doctors, lawyers, pimps and
“whoes”,
dope fiends with their nostrils
froze;
perverts, politicians (one and the
same),
everyone seemed to have some
kind of game.
At 16 years old I was really
impressed,
with this flash, this glitz, this
flamboyant success.
I knew before long, that my turn
would come,
I’d shoot for the stars, at least,
out of the slum.
Then HE came on stage to a
mighty roar,
as bustling humanity hung all out
the door.
A quiet MAN, of knowledge and
taste,
yet HIS presence sent a chill
through the place!
Flash became silence, glitz bled to
awe,
pure greatness just glistened from
THIS MAN we saw;
no posturing, no swagger, no
hipster-like mack,
just unfettered greatness, the
essence, in fact....
That one precious moment, I
gaped at the stand,
my young reckless mind would
take hold as a man.
That moment estranged from the
kid that I’d been,
life’s door was flung wide, a new
man would step in.
Many years later, assessing
my life,
the greatness of raising two
kids with a wife;
THE MAN is no more, on this
earthly plain,
but HIS unflaunting
manhood stays etched in my
brain.
That kid on that night gave
birth to a plan,
that night when he looked up
in awe at THE MAN.
Revealed was a path that
would color his life,
that shuned the flamboyance
and glitz of the night.
To shoot for the stars! That
was his plan,
the stardom that’s found in
just being A MAN!
Taking two souls, molding
their lives,
away from the flash, and the
glitz, and the blight.
Two college age kids now
view him with awe,
he now see in their eyes
what that night HE saw.
Greatness is relative, he
learned from THE MAN,
through the glint in HIS eye,
HIS demeanor, HIS stand;
don’t have to be famous to
be someone grand,
just pull up your trousers,
face life like a man.
It was KNOWLEDGE and
WISDOM that night the kid
saw;
the EXCELLENCE of
DISCIPLINE that put him in
awe,
of one humble spirit, so
sweet and sublime,
but a spirit that’ll speak to
all man for all time!
So a droplet of beauty, the
kid to mankind,
a pearl of wisdom, a wistful
rhyme;
some insight he gained as he
bat away tears,
might his essence endure
through the unfolding years?
A journey began, on that
faithful night,
that moment a young set of
eyes saw “First Light.”
When HE tapped out the
rhythm to Africa Brass,
and my dream to see
COLTRANE had come true
at last.
Eric L. Wattree
my life,
the greatness of raising two
kids with a wife;
THE MAN is no more, on this
earthly plain,
but HIS unflaunting
manhood stays etched in my
brain.
That kid on that night gave
birth to a plan,
that night when he looked up
in awe at THE MAN.
Revealed was a path that
would color his life,
that shuned the flamboyance
and glitz of the night.
To shoot for the stars! That
was his plan,
the stardom that’s found in
just being A MAN!
Taking two souls, molding
their lives,
away from the flash, and the
glitz, and the blight.
Two college age kids now
view him with awe,
he now see in their eyes
what that night HE saw.
Greatness is relative, he
learned from THE MAN,
through the glint in HIS eye,
HIS demeanor, HIS stand;
don’t have to be famous to
be someone grand,
just pull up your trousers,
face life like a man.
It was KNOWLEDGE and
WISDOM that night the kid
saw;
the EXCELLENCE of
DISCIPLINE that put him in
awe,
of one humble spirit, so
sweet and sublime,
but a spirit that’ll speak to
all man for all time!
So a droplet of beauty, the
kid to mankind,
a pearl of wisdom, a wistful
rhyme;
some insight he gained as he
bat away tears,
might his essence endure
through the unfolding years?
A journey began, on that
faithful night,
that moment a young set of
eyes saw “First Light.”
When HE tapped out the
rhythm to Africa Brass,
and my dream to see
COLTRANE had come true
at last.
Eric L. Wattree