JOHN HARVEY
Spanish Music.com
PLAYING MUSIC AT NIGHT
I would be sleeping in bed there facing the big tree, my head by the window with the window open, breathing all of the fresh air. I used to like the smell of the air and then in the morning, I liked the singing of the birds that would wake me up. Oh it’s nice. I would open my eyes and it was starting to get daylight.
Many times on the weekends around
If the big gate was open, I would walk straight out the drive to the street. Otherwise, I would walk out the front gate because it didn’t make any sound to open like the big gate. If my grandmother had woke up, she would ask, “What are you doing?” I would say, “I’m going to go with la Mascara and go play the accordion for them over at the school.” “Okay, don’t take too long. It’s 2 in the morning.” At least one of them knew. I think they could hear us from the house since the school was only 3 blocks away.
When I got in the car, they would tell me, “We’re so glad you could come John, we needed someone to play the accordion. Nobody else could come. Which soda do you want first?
John, age 13
We’re going to drink beer but we can’t offer you any beer, you know that.” “Yeah, I know.” “Don’t tell your grandfather that we offered you beer, even as a joke. Don’t joke around like that.” They knew how my grandfather was and he hired most of them to work. They would be out of work.
Pretty soon they would be singing out of tune. I wouldn’t tell them anything about it. They usually had a guitar player, which made it better. I would also play the guitar. They would be real concerned, they would ask me, “How are you doing on the soda?” “Well I drank three, I have three left.” There’s only so much soda you can drink at a time. They didn’t want me to run out of soda; then we run out of music.
We would see the daylight coming. I guess we better go now, it’s almost daylight. They would drop me off first. “Thank you John, thank you very much.” I would go quietly into the house with the accordion and guitar and go right to bed. About that time, my grandparents would be getting up. If I saw them, they would ask me if I wanted to drink coffee or eat something. “No, later when I get up.” Later my grandfather would ask me, “Who came to pick you up last night?” “Mascara, Jesus and Alex.” “Okay, those are good boys. And where did you go?” “Over by the school.”
When it was cold, I remember wearing a jacket and my fingers getting cold. They would start a little fire, it was safe, we were on the dirt road a little past the school. Shelley’s father’s house was past that little road. We would start a little fire and all of the guys would be drinking cold beer. It was dark and the light from the fire would shine on everybody all around. They were sitting around in a circle. It would be real nice playing like that by the campfire, even the smell of the fire. When I smell a fire like that it brings up memories of that time. That is the memory I have of growing up. Not too many kids have that type of experience. I always had the experience of hanging around older guys. I didn’t hang around too much with kids my age. During the day, we would walk around together. But at night it was the older guys that would pick me up. They were of drinking age.
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