"Hey, man - I brought you something from the Van Morrison show! A special souvenir!"
It took me a second to focus on this. "Oh, cool!" I said. "Uhhh... wasn't that two years ago? Or something like that?"
There was a pause, then Sally must have realized that my brain was still in nine-to-five work mode. "Yes, but so what? Listen to me - this was lost in the back of my car for a long time, and then I had to take it into the shop for some work and the mechanic found it buried in there somewhere and handed it to me. Anyway, I have this 'special Van Morrison thing' for you, and I want to give it to you. Trust me, you'll like it!"
At this point, I suddenly had a mental image of an elderly Van Morrison onstage, hacking and wheezing his way through "Brown-Eyed Girl" and then going into a coughing fit. His mouth opens wide and a piece of dental work suddenly takes a graceful arc into the front row, and then in the next instant Sally's outstretched hands are gently catching the toothy projectile before it can hit the floor. I shuddered inwardly.
"Cool!" I said at last. I'm not a huge Van Morrison fan, but Sally is known for throwing great parties and giving unique gifts on holidays. I had to know what she was holding for me. "When can I meet you?"
We got together at a local cafe on Saturday morning and after a bit of catching up, she suddenly said, "Oh, yeah - here's your backstage Van Morrison gift!" and pulled a small box out of her purse.
I took a look - she had snagged a box of Rico Select jazz reeds for alto sax, which are about the best that Rico makes, very pricey. For myself, I only use Van Doren flat-cut reeds on the alto, La Voz Med-Soft on the tenor, and Rico Royals on the baritone - but horn players tend to be very picky about these details and I had to give credit to the previous owner. This guy (or woman) had good taste, whoever they are.
"Are you sure that Van actually played the alto on this last tour?" I asked as I turned them over and over in my hand. "His baritone player is pretty famous, but all I ever hear about the guy is how he sounded when he sang such-and-such... I think he's mostly on guitar these days."
Sally narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously. "You know, you just have to take some things on faith, Symon! I went backstage after the show, and there they were. I like to think that he left them there for me to find and eventually give to you! It was FATE, man."
So I have them now, the magic Van Morrison alto sax reeds! I have come to believe that from the inception of the universe, I was meant to have these. And I will never open them... (being a Van Doren man and all)
But I'm still holding out for bridge work from some Famous Artist. Or maybe a glass eye from someone who is not-so-famous...
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