Dreams I'll Never See

Bubbie’s view from his windshield is clear on this bright sunny day. The sky is cloudless and brilliantly blue. The green in the trees still have that yellowish spring tint that denotes happiness and joy and signals the coming of summer. One of his all time favorite CDs, The Allman Brothers Band from Polygram Records is playing the backing track to his day. Seven great songs that stir Bubbie’s emotions as he travels through the back farm-country roads. (Actually it’s been playing for nearly two months now; he’s having his own little contest of how long he can listen to it before he’s had enough.) Coming over a rise, just between a peanut field and a pine stand, Greg Allman is floating along in one of the solos in song #6, Dreams (7:18 mins.). Attributable to the excellent production of this recording and Greg's talent, one can almost picture his fingers as he plays. That’s what Bubbie loves about the Allmans, the tensioned layers and humanness of there performance, often subtly playing ever so slightly behind the beat. It projects a cool demeanor, like they almost don’t regard their own genius before skillfully, fluidly passing the passage of to the next musician as a brook flows into a stream.

Bubbie rolls up to a red-light and patiently waits to turn onto Hwy 41. He sings to himself as he turns the radio down, “Pull myself together, put on a new face, Climb down off the hilltop, baby,
Get back in the race.” The light turns green. The sky is blue. The road is straight and clear.