Willamina Ravensdale (willie_raven) wrote in vivavampvegas, @ 2010-07-27 21:10:00 |
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Current location: | Cammie's Pub |
Current mood: | happy |
Entry tags: | willie ravensdale, ~jono hazard |
Always Good to Meet New People
Who: Willie & Jono
Where: Cammie's Pub
When: Saturday evening
Cammie's was an interesting type of place: an old-fashioned pub, like something out of an old movie, with people drinking, laughing, and having fun. And at the front of the bar was a small, intimate stage, where seemingly only two or three people could fit at once. And while normally, the music, no matter who was performing, was more of an afterthought (the place had a 'house performer' that played piano and sang occasionally), tonight, all eyes and ears were on the eccentric, yet talented, man who sat at that piano.
Jono Hazard had been gaining a bit of an underground reputation around the Nevada and California regions, for his haunting tunes and deep lyrics. His family had been in the area dating back to the late 1800s, and he came from quite a long line of performers, ranging from vaudeville actors, to dancers, to theatre. So to say Jono had the bug in him was an understatement, and also went far as to explaining why he was so... outgoing at times.
His tie loosened, blazer hanging over the back of the chair he sat in, he rolled up his sleeves and began his next song, closing his eyes and starting to sing as his fingers danced across the ivory.
"The Daughters' Father watches, quietly we assume
He's no longer with us but he left this dusty room
And your name it's an honor
It's a shame but it's your honor
To take it on your shoulder
'til you can find another
That's enough for now
He should have never left you broken
He should have held you
Things your Father never could do
That's enough for now
He would have never left you broken
He would have held you
Things your Father never told you
The century before you, never could turn 21
Years and years he waited, just watching for a son
someone to go ahead, to take the name instead
Years and years he waited, but a daughter came instead
But that's enough for now
He should have never left you broken
He should have held you
Things your Father never could do
That's enough for now
He would have never left you broken
He would have held you
Things your Father never told you
Breathing comes in pairs
Except for twice
One begins and one's goodbye
60 years of sorrow, he got 5 or 6 of bliss
Left my mothers' mother
Without so much as a kiss
As a kiss
And that's enough for now
He never wanted to leave you broken
He would have held you
Things your father never could do
That's enough for now
I would have never left you broken
I would have held you
Things your father never could doooo
Words your father never told you
60 years of sorrow, he got 5 or 6 of bliss
Left my Mothers' mother
Without so much as a kiss"*
Willie had come in here tonight after the recommendation of a fare that she had driven. Apparently the person she had driven tonight had really liked one of the singers he had seen there, someone who went by the name of Jono. After checking to see if that particular person was playing tonight by phone, Willie had driven there after her own shift of lugging drunken bachelors around for the evening (Saturdays were always the worst for that) and decided to go and see him for herself.
Well, he was handsome, that was for damn sure. Of course, plenty of handsome people couldn't sing a lick. However, when he started to play the piano and sing, Willie quickly found out that THAT was a worry that she wouldn't have to have about this fellow. He sang marvelously! She shut her eyes and listened to the song as she enjoyed a beer.
Jono seemed lost in his performance, oblivious to everything around him. While that might SEEM the case, it was actually anything BUT. Truth was, he was an odd sort of empath. Sort of the opposite of a certain green demon we know and love. When HE sang, he could read the emotions and desires and basic needs of the people around him. And he hated feeling like he was prying into people's minds... so he concentrated to his greatest extent while he sang, trying to concentrate ONLY on the music, not about the feelings (good, bad, sad, and sick, all of it) of the people watching him.
After a few more songs, he closed out with one of his signature songs...
"I found God... on the corner of 1st and Amistad
Where the West... was all but won
All alone... smoking his last cigarette
I said, "Where've you been?"... He said, "Ask anything".
Where were you... when everything was falling apart.
All my days... were spent by the telephone
It never rang... and all I needed was a call
That never came... to the corner of 1st and Amistad
Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late... you found me, you found me.
But in the end... everyone ends up alone
Losing her... the only one who's ever known
Who I am... who I'm not and who I wanna place
No way to know... how long she will be next to me
Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late... you found me, you found me...
The early morning... the city breaks
And I've been calling... for years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
You never sent me no letters
You got some kind of nerve... taking all I want
Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor... Where were you? Where were you?
Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late... you found me, you found me!
Why'd you have to wait... to find me, to find me?"
After finishing, he turned, stood, and gave a polite bow to the applauding crowd, before hopping off the stage and walking over to the bar for a glass of wine. Good LORD did he need it to stave off the headache he was getting from pushing away all those emotions.
Jono happened to sit near Willie when he came down from the stage and to the bar. Willie, never being one to be shy, simply slid a little closer to him so that they were in earshot of one another now, smiling at him, and said, "Lovely singing you did up there. Do you do it professionally, or is it just a hobby of sorts? Either way, you're fantastic."
"......." He had turned, meaning to say 'thank you', when he caught a look at her. Whoa. Far better looking than the women he was used to talking to. After blinking at her like a dullard for a few moments, he laughed and rolled his eyes, feeling like a moron. "Sorry 'bout that. Thank you for the kind words, love. I'm... hoping to do it professionally, so you can call this a start, I suppose..."
She grinned at him. Luckily, even though she didn't dress the part of a sex kitten usually, typically sticking to jeans and tank tops outside of work, she knew she was hot, and thus occasionally silenced men with it. "It's fine! Decent place to start is Vegas. A little shocked that you aren't trying to do this in LA, though, where all the big record companies are."
"I like it around here, actually..." He replied, giving a shrug. "LA is a little too... high-stress for me." Dear god, the emotions running wild in a place like that? First time he sang he'd have a heart attack! "Vegas is perfect. Fast-paced by also... kind of laid-back at the same time." He offered her his hand, a quirky little smile on his face. "I'm Jono, by the way."
She nodded. "I can see the logic behind that," she agreed with him. She reached out and shook his hand. "I'm Willie Ravensdale," she told him. "I only came here to move in with my cousin, actually." She only wished she had come to America with a real plan in mind like starting a career.
So he couldn't help it. The typical-male part of him wondered if this cousin was female, and anywhere NEAR as hot as she was. "Interesting last name. Very... gothic. Although that may just be the part of me that's obsessed with Poe speaking. And of course I'm babbling now. Bloody idiot, I am."
"Thank you! I wish I knew a little more about it. For all I know, some relative made it up to escape prosecution after stealing a horse or something back in the olden days," she said with a laugh. "And you're not an idiot. Obviously I'm a bit of a babbler myself."
"Then perhaps you'd let a gentleman keep you babbling a little longer by buying you a few drinks?" He asked, thankful that SHE wasn't the one who could read emotions. Because then he'd seem like a total, complete perv, to be totally honest.
She grinned at him. If he was reading emotions right now, the only things coming off of her were giddy and happy. However, that would be all he would get from her 90% of the time, anyway. She was just kind of a happy girl like that. "I'd love to," she said to him.
"Fantastic!" He exclaimed with a cheerful grin, beckoning the bartender over with a wave of his hand. "G'day, chap... be a friend and get the lady here anything she'd like, alright?" He looked back to Willie then, as if giving her the ok to order whatever she was drinking.
She looked over at the bartender and ordered herself a brand of British beer from home, hoping that they would have it. When the bartender simply nodded and started to grab one for her, she grinned. "Wow, it's kind of hard to find the beer that I like in Vegas," she said, feeling oh so lucky.
"This is possibly the alcohol capital of the United States. If they don't have it around here? It doesn't exist." He said with a laugh, as the tender refilled his wine. He hated looking like a lush, especially around someone new, but when he was performing, a bit of alcohol dulled his abilities a bit.
It was hard to look like a lush around Willie, since she had been taught to drink like a boy by her father (crazy, right?), and thus could drink grown men under the table with her alcohol tolerance. So she didn't even notice. "Guess that's what I get for listening to the telly and thinking that American bars only stocked American beer then, huh?"
"This place especially, gets almost everything you could imagine. Lass that owns the place keeps it stocked with more alcohol than I knew existed." He happened to glance up at the clock, which made him realize something that put a smile on his face. "Kudos, love. You've managed to keep me around here far longer than I usually stay once I'm done singing. And yet I still feel no real desire to leave. Must be the company."
Her grin got wider when he pointed out that he had been here much longer than he usually hung around, and he still had no desire to leave. "Well, I hope I'm not keeping you from some appointment," she said, "but I'm glad that you decided to stay." She found herself really enjoying the company of this guy.
"Gotta say I am too." He said, trying not to laugh, as really, who WOULDN'T stay just to talk to such a good-looking woman? "Sometimes the coffee they make here tastes like they melted tar off the road, put it in a mug, and placed it on front of you... but the atmosphere is nice." He grinned over at her, a mischievous look about him. "Can't say the scenery can be looked down on, either."
"Well, you really shouldn't get coffee from a bar," Wilie pointed out. "I mean, they might actually make it just like you said." She grinned at him when he mentioned the scenery. "I think I'm enjoying the scenery myself."
"Well, you certainly know how to flatter a man." He said, trying not to get all squirmy or blush. "Mayhaps we could... do this again sometime? When we're actually able to perhaps... have a bite to eat at a nicer locale?"
Willie nodded. "I think I'd like that, actually," she said to him. OK, so she had come to America somewhat to get away from a bad break up, but that didn't mean that she couldn't try dating again, did it?
"Splendid!" He said with a great big smile. After how disastrous the last year of his life had been, dating-wise, he didn't exactly want to just hop into anything, but what harm could come of one date, right?
*(Song is "Enough For Now" by The Fray)