“As the morning gathers, a rainbow
I want you to know now, that I’m a rainbow with you”
Marley/ Quaye
First of all, Happy New Year to you.
I wrote this next bit for a different blog, a worky one, but I can’t stop thinking about it…
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Back in the olden, olden days when there were such things as proper nightclubs, or discos…well we called them discos in Monaghan but they were really just the giant function rooms in hotels that could be used for gala dinners , or weddings during the week, but, on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night they were the epitome of human existence…the disco !
This was the era before mobile phones and when lots of homes had little padlocks on the dial of your home phone as your Da kept moaning about the cost of calls, but in reality you didn’t need to call anyone before you went out, you simply landed into the Westenra Hotel, known simply as ‘The West’, met everyone that was home that weekend and you all headed up to the Hillgrove Hotel, known as simply the ‘The Grove’, around 11, but certainly before midnight, because it would be full by then and you wouldn’t get in. And boy, was it full ! The Saturday nights regularly attracted crowds of 2,000.
It was glorious mayhem.
You didn’t have to ask anyone out to dance, you just wedged yourself onto the dancefloor and got lost in the frenzy. Except for the slow set. There were two slow sets played each night, about an hour apart. This was your chance to ask a girl out to dance , and when I say dance , I mean to hold onto her for dear life, swaying gently and performing a lovestruck Heimlich manouvre. The protocal that seemed to evolve was that you asked the girls you liked for the first slow set, and then you asked anyone for the second. Similarly girls turned down seemingly everyone for the first set, and then danced with anyone during the second.
And throughout the whole evening all the single fellas seemed to travel in a giant pack circling the dancefloor clockwise, while the girls pretended to ignore them, but saw everything.
I recall the night that the Hillgrove surprised us by introducing UV lighting in the middle of a song and half of the girls bras shone luminous yellow, much to our amazement , and their embarrassment. The other half of the girls were hugely popular during the next slow set.
When we first started going to the ‘Grove, we would meet up in the Westenra and head up to the Hillgrove at 10 , as soon as it opened, to make sure we got in. The bouncers seemed to be friendlier and less fussy about your age if you went early. And we’d sit in some of the nice seats, before the regulars would arrive and make us move. Up until 11 there would be absolutely no one dancing. But at 11, to kick things off, the DJ would play Black Betty, by Ram Jam, and Back in Black by AC/DC, and a denim clad horde of long-haired boys and girls would materialise in the middle of the dancefloor and gyrate wildly, all playing air guitar…sometimes in keeping with the music.
I would stop and stare.
It was silly and wonderful at the same time. I wouldn’t have dared to do it, and envied their sheer joy and self-confidence. On my very first visit to the ‘Grove, my friend Looby and I had made the fatal error of going out to dance to the first song we knew and loved, which was New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’. This song was 7minutes and 29 seconds long and , we discovered , very, very difficult to dance to…especially when you are the only two people dancing , and you’re both bright pink from self-consciousness. We never danced before midnight after that.
Over the years since I’ve often thought back to those air guitarists in the ‘Grove . doing what they liked and not really caring what others thought.
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What I can’t stop thinking about is how many times I’m playing air guitar rather than actually playing guitar….metaphorically speaking, I don’t play guitar or air guitar….although there was that one time at Gerry and Anne Marie’s wedding when John McCague and all the uncles had their ties tied around their heads and were rocking out to Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’ when it would have been rude not to join in.
So, anyway, air guitar.
For far, far , far too long I took myself too seriously, and was overly concerned about what others thought of me. If I didn’t know how to do something, I just didn’t do it. I was afraid to air guitar my way into or out of it.
The exceptions were marrying my Soulmate, and having our family together. Neither of these things I’d done before or knew how to do. But I’d witnessed my own folks, and because I was marrying my Soulmate I wasn’t afraid, as we were safe in each other. Having children and rearing them , well that largely fell to my Soulmate and I was completely relaxed knowing that I’d operate more as an older brother than an actual parent and…well, so far so good. I tell a lie. When they were babies I generally ran around shrieking “The sky is falling !” like Henny Penny, or Chicken Little for my Yankee readers, anytime they coughed , blinked, sneezed, cried…or fell off the kitchen table…but that only happened once, and Elliott seems fine ….mostly.
These days , to the casual observer, it may appear that I know what I’m doing, but I don’t, I am most definitely playing air guitar. I’m doing my best, and enjoying myself.
Running ? I do a very good impression of a runner, especially at the beginning of a run or race. I thoroughly enjoy myself and rather than try and achieve a good time, I have a good time. I thank the race marshalls, individually, I hug anyone I know, or think I know along the way, and I take selfies with anyone groovy… and Ray
Work /Life balance ? There’s a work/life balance now ? Seriously though, it only took 16 weeks of chemo, radical surgery and the removal of several organs, and 9 months away from work to show that everything improved in my absence. I just make tea now and tell everyone what I’ve enjoyed watching on TV, podcasts I’m listening to, and doing messages in town. Air guitar.
Community ? I am truly blessed to live in Monaghan, the True Centre of The Universe. I have , on occasion, come up with the odd idea for an art installation, Giant, boat race, outdoor cinema, festival, etc… and people who really know what they’re doing get involved and cover up for the fact that I’m playing air guitar.
Family ? We all jam air guitar together.
Writing ? Definitely don’t know what I’m doing, but I enjoy doing it. Thanks for letting me.
Toodles,
Paul
P.S. This is Sunday Shining by Finley Quaye, and it’s for you.
