Who. Amanda Turner What. An evening gig at the tea house When. Saturday night, January 1 2011 Where. Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco, CA Warnings. None
"Testing, testing."
The lights over the tiny stage had already dimmed. It was barely large enough to accommodate one person but somehow she and Jack, the second guitarist of the night managed to fit. Usually she played her gigs alone, but sometimes it was nice to have an accompaniment. Sometimes you had to make sure someone was there to carry you if you needed it.
Amanda was still coming down from the monster hang over that was last nights New Years Eve festivities and she was still feeling strangely discontent. In the early morning she'd chalked it up to hung over blues, but when the feeling hadn't passed by mid afternoon, she knew it was something else. She just didn't know what.
Cheer up, love. What have you got to be sad about? Nothing, that's what. It's a new year! Don't start it off being all sad and pathetic. -- Gee, thanks Charlie.
The corner of Amanda's mouth pulled up in a grin and she shook head. She finished the sound check by strumming a few chords before lowering to a perch on her stool, pulling her guitar strap over her head and resting her guitar on her hip. She immediately felt better. This was still the one thing that always made sense to her. To them. Music.
She glanced at her partner to make sure he was ready and then leaned forward into the mic, her voice low and soft but the mic carried it to the very back of the room. "This goes out to all the people who might be feeling a little bit lost in the new year. Hope you find what you're looking for."
Her fingers were moving of their own accord now, immediately strumming out the first few chords of the melody before she leaned into the mic again and belted her best alto.
"Dancing where the stars go blue, dancing where the evening fell. Dancing in my wooden shoes, in a wedding gown..."
She held the last note and Jack took over, singing the next half of the verse in his smooth tenor before leading them into the chorus, which she chimed in on at the second line. As any good musician did, they let go, letting the music wash over them and their synchronization was perfect.
"Where do you go when you're lonely? Where do you go when you're blue? Whre do you go when you're lonely, I'll follow you. When the stars go blue."
Amanda barely noticed anymore, they'd been doing this for months now and Charlie singing along with her in her head just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Everything about being her and being him felt completely natural, like breathing air. Before she knew it the end of the song came and they both came together for the last line in perfect harmony, their eyes shut tight as they felt the end of it and smiled at each other once they'd opened them. Amanda strummed the last few chords of the song so hard she thought they were going to snap. People were clapping and Jack was getting up from his stool, but Amanda stayed. In the heat of the moment she leaned forward again, staring out into the dimly lit crowd as she played a few soft chords and sang into the mic.
"You all, everybody You all, everybody Acting like you're stupid people Wearing 'spensive clothes..."
When she finished she had no idea why she had tears in her eyes.