In the picture above you can see the Blue Parrot, with its shell parking
lot and tiki hut outdoor bar, surrounded by condominiums, emerging from the earth
like the towers in Brazil.
One time when Owen was between bands, Old
Folks drove him to Tallahassee, to audition for a job at a theme park that hired
several different kinds of bands and singing groups, from bluegrass to Dixieland
to doo-wop to barbershop quartet.
The auditions were held in the auditorium
above the rathskeller where Old Folks had been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa 25 years
before.
He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in the auditorium, not the rathskeller.
That meant it was his and Brenda's 25th wedding anniversary, and, as Old Folks was
between jobs, too, he was too broke to spend a weekend at The Oaks with Brenda, to
celebrate their silver anniversary.
He and Owen drove home the coastal route,
through Panacea, Carrabelle, Apalachicola, and Port St. Joe.
Between East
Point and Apalach, they drove out to St. George Island to eat supper, at the Blue
Parrot.
* * *
Here's a detail of the picture above, showing the sign.
The auditions were like the opening of A Chorus Line.
"Please
help me, Lord. I need this job."
A lot of fear, flop-sweat, show business
values. People singing, dancing. Practicing, auditioning.
A pianist accompanied
Owen on "Orange Blossom Special," and he tore it up.
When he finished,
the other performers, competing with him, broke into spontaneous applause.
* * *
At the Blue Parrot, the sound system played Jimmy Buffett's "Let's Get
Drunk and Screw," with Vassar Clements on fiddle.
Owen took this as a good
sign.
It was a good sign. He didn't get the gig.
Picture Dolly Parton
singing "Rocky Top" and welcoming Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
to the Grand Ole Opry.
Who did she think she was? Loretta Lynn?
* * *
Owen later got on with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. Old Folks later got
a job in Atlanta in a fiber-optic cable factory.
Owen was on the Grand Ole
Opry with Doyle. He toured Europe with Doyle. A CD he was on with Doyle was nominated
for a Grammy.
* * *
In the College of Hard Knocks an expulsion is often a promotion, Scott Nearing
says.