Category: On tour October 2024

Schmuck

a schmuck is a prick in yiddish
but as I travelled in germany
i would see shops that said schmuck
and was shocked to find out
that schmuck
means jewelry in german

so , obviously, it must derive from ‘the family jewels’
or one jeweler was a real prick…….

************
a while ago you told me to refer to you
as king of the schmucks
do you remember that?
i remember that.

thanks to a ticket seller who couldn’t get rid of her tickets
a few of the musicians playing outside got to hear the show on Wednesday
no changes in the set list since bob played ‘dignity’ once in Prague.
not my favorite song especially since the street performers are ignored
by the band and ya gotta practice what ya preach,right?
it would be so meaningful for bob to ask his people to
put the street performers on the guest list
especially since he hasn’t had an opening act in 25 years
the stones always have an opening act
the venue the 100 year hall is classy and the sound fantastic
i enjoyed bob playing guitar in an impromptu intro to all along the watchtower
in fact I wish there were more of these little jam gems
my own version of you is an amusing song that needs a different approach
maybe bob should don a top hat and change the delivery
mother of muses is a prayer elegy that reminds me a bit of
leonard cohens song voice on his last tours
cohen never rushed a word and bob, too often, does….
the big crowd pleaser continues to be desolation row
and when I paint my masterpiece
and then , we danced… stage right
I asked a white haired woman to dance and that broke the ice
over the last 5 songs there were about 20 people dancing Wednesday
and the last 2 songs on Friday I danced with a beautiful young woman
who reminded me of the natural warmth and intimacy
that i am missing living alone
we swayed as I held her
listening to a beautiful version
of every grain of sand

arrived by train from Berlin
just in time
as the rain began to fall
i was born here
my father was stationed here.
luckily he won a lottery and came to Nürnberg
instead of going to korea
there is a Jewish custom that the first born
has to be bought back from the lord

my father, not a religious man,
decided he wanted to do the ceremony anyway
But my mother refused to participate
there were not a lot of Jews in Germany after the war
but apparently there had to be two witnesses
according to the army rabbi.
so either my father or the rabbi found
two guys and the rabbi said that they were to be given a certain amount
of silver which was supposed to be returned after the ceremony.
the ceremony was done, the guys returned the money but my father
found out later that the money was counterfeit
so where did that leave me,?
was I brought back from the lord properly?

maybe this has been a spiritual conundrum
of mine from my first days on the planet
so I too was stationed in nurnburg
for the first 5 months of my life
and there is still debate in some circles
whether I can become president