It is 10 pm in San Diego on a  Monday night. Monday nights,  by anyones standards are usually dead. I just got off work..from a job that pays minimum wage and somehow seems to take up more of my life than it should. I smell like grease and coffee. I’m wearing a recycled boys flannel and cutoff corduroy shorts. I usually feel dead after nights like these, and maybe I should, but tonight, I don’t. I fought to be here. I called six or seven friends, trying to sell them on a spontaneous night of soul and dancing. I had not one taker, save for myself. 

I’m super aware of my singularity but then I discover an ally in the bartender. I recognize him from Henry’s Marketplace. I always had admired him while I picked over the Gala Apples on sale. He recognizes me. He informs me he just quit Henry’s on Thursday. Walked out. Decided he wanted a summer. Good for him. One more Generation Y-er sticking it to the man. I’m drinking Hefewizen with an orange. I start to feel relaxed and quit caring so much about what I may or may not look like to others.

U-31 is quiet. But there is good house music…it’s  ”The Animals”, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. Yah, I’m starting to feel good. Glad I came out. Just a few of the guys from the Diamonds are setting up. There is Joey with his keyboard, and effortless ways. His hands lick across the keyboard at lightening speed. I revel at the bassist with his slicked back 50’s greaser do. How does he make it work so well? It’s like he was born in that tight Sonic Youth tee shirt, tattoos, flared jeans and boots. He is the epitome of sexy and  the only man who can wear the aforementioned getup and that I would ever consider. I’ve seen him behind the bar at the Turf Club, calm, and cool..close but inaccessible. Joey does a sound check with his harmonica..it’s absolutely shattering and delectable. There’s the drummer with the beard I always see running, and then the guitarist…he looks young..is he in Dirty Sweet? A replacement? I’m not sure. It’s been so long since I’ve been out on a Monday and since I have indulged in The Diamonds. Everyone has long hair, and embodies classic cool and rock and roll. They don’t just look the part. They are the part. Their music blows me away. I wish my dad was here to hear it.  I don’t know if anyone really gets it. It reminds me of the scene in the Blues Brothers where John Belushi and Dan Akroyd perform to a silent crowd of thousands in Chicago’s Palace Hotel Ballroom. I kindof feel like I am being let in on a secret, that I’m privy to something that everyone else is too tired or lazy to care about. The band starts up. No sign of Lady Dottie yet. It’s nearing 10:30 pm.

As I’m enraptured by the band starting out with a cover of Memphis Slim’s “Everyday I Have the Blues” I detect an odor. It is not unpleasant, and it is distinct. It doesn’t smell young. It smells rich, seasoned and like cocoa butter, and it’s oily.  I turn around and The Lady D herself is sitting next to me. Black boots, black cropped pants,  and a leopard print tank top. She is a sight to behold. I touch her arm and ask her how she is.  She mouths a typical response of “I’m good”  I respond in a similar manner. I can’t help but smile. Of course I don’t know her, but I know her just as much as anyone else.  She presents herself every week, exposed to anyone who will listen. I feel nameless and fortunate.

Then, dissatisfied with her position at the bar, she gets up with her glass of wine and dons a tambourine and hits the stage. Let the magic begin. Who cares that we’re no longer packed in like sweaty, salty sardines at The Tower Bar? Who cares that I am dancing alone and there is not some attractive asshole boy holding my hips? Who cares that I’m exhausted and broke and on food stamps? Who cares that I spent all of my tip money on a couple of beers? Who cares that there is a surprising array of 1990’s looking people on the dance floor? Who cares that one guy doesn’t get it (or maybe he really does) and is head-banging and backflipping? Lady Dottie did say it’s his birthday.

It’s Monday night and Lady Dottie and The Diamonds are in front of me, and I am alive and free.