After Jerry & Friends played at Mandrake's, some Hells Angels types took an interest in coming back to the bar to make friends with the bartender. We (Mary and I) didn't like the hard core biker vibes, though the bartender thought it was cool because he wore a fancy leather motorcycle jacket with buckles and such and rode a white Honda or something. I didn't like them for a lot of reasons, not the least of which because they'd developed an early irritating publicity-mad habit of confronting peace marchers and threatening them with their motorcycles and violence while proclaiming their own "patriotism". And whether Mary took an active role in discouraging their future attendance or whether they didn't come back after a few visits was because they didn't like the music or the prospects, I simply don't know. But for me it was a pleasure not to have to squeeze past and wiggle around a greasy biker making out with his girlfriend just to serve a drink.

I do remember the time that the Commander Cody band were shorted on the door. They'd been becoming buddies with the bartender and bouncer, remember. Their good buddies, their friends had "lost count" and a serious amount money was missing. And they'd no idea where it could be. Mary had made a career of dealing with the fabrications of hardened juvenile offenders and could find a solution just like a snap of the fingers. She had the band talk to the door guys and after watching them squirm she then straightened everything out. I asked her where she had dug these guys up (the bartender & bouncer) and she said they were the children of a friend. So she was a loyal person, and tried to help her friends as well as manage a music club.

I wouldn't have wanted her job as mother hen for all the world.  ¶ 12/13/2010 01:35:00 PM