Growing Old Together




Leo Kottke as he looked when I first saw him in 1973, and as he looks, more or less, in 2006.

We saw Leo Kottke last night at a really small venue. We were almost sitting on top of him. He is one hell of a picker. I had stopped for coffee at Waldo's, a local shop, when the wait-tron asked how I was going to spend my day off. I told her that I was going to see Leo Kottke that night. She had no idea who he was and asked me if he was "new". So, feeling like an infinitely wise hipster dufus I open my mouth and placed my foot squarely therin and said, "How old are you?" "21", she replied. "Well I was about your age the first time I saw Mr. Kottke." Her eyes got big as saucers and she said, "Wow, he must be really old." My dear wife had to feed me severl beers last night to get me back on track. But in the end the music was phenomenal, Leo is still a damned funny Deep Space Cowboy, and I was one of many sagging bodies with thinning hair who spent an evening reconnecting with his or her youth.

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