Springsteen performs Spirit In The Night...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PabcRWkv41g
It's a very pleasant early Autumn night here at the Manor. The sun's slinking away, leaving a haze of backlight on the clouds and the temperature's just right. As kids in the old neighborhood we'd be sitting on Edmund and Millie's front stoop, shooting the shit, and some would then suggest a game of Kleeba.
Now, I think I explained once before that Kleeba was a game invented by our neighbor, Bruce, (not Springsteen...). The official name was Kleeba Kleega Honka Honka, (and you'd have to ask Bruce the background and significance of that, whatever memories I have were burned off long ago). The rules were a combination of tag, dodge ball and hide-and-go-seek; the playing field was the entire neighborhood. It was only played at night, and you'd wear clothing as dark as possible, and there's be a tennis ball. Someone would start out as "It". They'd possess the ball, close their eyes, and count to ten. In the meantime, the rest of us would run and hide amidst the bushes, parked cars, stairwells, etc. around the neighborhood. The "It" would run around trying to find a vicitm. When they discovered someone, they'd throw the ball, and if it hit the person, they'd become the new "It". It was considered bad form to immediately tag the person who'd just hit you, but there were no formal rules beyond what I've just described. It was a loner's game; for anyone who'd seen where you'd hid might next be tagged and then quickly corner you. One common tactic, once sighted, would be to run into an area already occupied by your fellow "hiders", who'd immediately scatter, thus providing the hunter with more than one target and (hopefully) getting them off YOUR tail. Kleeba was a cooperativist's nightmare.
I don't know how it sounds to you reading this, but I can assure you - it was a blast.
Time moved on, (of course), and a night like tonight would be a cause for hanging out, drinking cheap wine, going on those first, tentative dates from school, and shooting yet more shit around the old neighborhood. And in later years it meant nights spent kicking around Old Town - nocturnal visits to the Warehouse, and my beloved Mason's (I still miss that place). Going over to Roger and Margrete's place to drink heavily and read tarot cards and poetry; and later on, to Nancy's for parties and chili feasts and a safe place to just escape.
It's a pleasant night for pleasant memories. Many of you reading this are a part of them. Thanks.
It's a very pleasant early Autumn night here at the Manor. The sun's slinking away, leaving a haze of backlight on the clouds and the temperature's just right. As kids in the old neighborhood we'd be sitting on Edmund and Millie's front stoop, shooting the shit, and some would then suggest a game of Kleeba.
Now, I think I explained once before that Kleeba was a game invented by our neighbor, Bruce, (not Springsteen...). The official name was Kleeba Kleega Honka Honka, (and you'd have to ask Bruce the background and significance of that, whatever memories I have were burned off long ago). The rules were a combination of tag, dodge ball and hide-and-go-seek; the playing field was the entire neighborhood. It was only played at night, and you'd wear clothing as dark as possible, and there's be a tennis ball. Someone would start out as "It". They'd possess the ball, close their eyes, and count to ten. In the meantime, the rest of us would run and hide amidst the bushes, parked cars, stairwells, etc. around the neighborhood. The "It" would run around trying to find a vicitm. When they discovered someone, they'd throw the ball, and if it hit the person, they'd become the new "It". It was considered bad form to immediately tag the person who'd just hit you, but there were no formal rules beyond what I've just described. It was a loner's game; for anyone who'd seen where you'd hid might next be tagged and then quickly corner you. One common tactic, once sighted, would be to run into an area already occupied by your fellow "hiders", who'd immediately scatter, thus providing the hunter with more than one target and (hopefully) getting them off YOUR tail. Kleeba was a cooperativist's nightmare.
I don't know how it sounds to you reading this, but I can assure you - it was a blast.
Time moved on, (of course), and a night like tonight would be a cause for hanging out, drinking cheap wine, going on those first, tentative dates from school, and shooting yet more shit around the old neighborhood. And in later years it meant nights spent kicking around Old Town - nocturnal visits to the Warehouse, and my beloved Mason's (I still miss that place). Going over to Roger and Margrete's place to drink heavily and read tarot cards and poetry; and later on, to Nancy's for parties and chili feasts and a safe place to just escape.
It's a pleasant night for pleasant memories. Many of you reading this are a part of them. Thanks.
posted by mendip at
7:31 PM
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