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Waffle House....


Murph

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All this talk about Waffle House has me remembering those 2:00 / 3:00 a.m. breakfast's after loading out the gear and leaving a strange town.

 

And the ones close by that were a regular routine.

 

Many a party was to carry on over coffee and hashbrowns, eggs, bacon and toast. The waitresses made much more in tips from a bunch of happy flirting drunks than they did from the vacation travelers who knew they would never be back.

 

What/where do you guys in Europe eat after a gig?

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Murph, sadly Waffle House does not maintain a very large footprint in Texas. I have lived in and stayed in a lot of towns here since 1970, but never one which has a Waffle House.

 

Heck, I remember 3 or 4 in Beaumont....

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We have one about twenty minutes down the road. Never even saw one when I was young and out gigging. Only place I can recall that was open all night when we played local gigs was known as the Greek's. Cannot for the life of me recall its real name only that the owner was from Greece so hence the name.

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I don't remember eating very often after a show. We mostly drank.

 

When we were on the road, the routine depended on whether we were doing a multi-day coffeehouse gig, or a one-night concert. If multi-day, we would partly break down after a show to get things a bit out of the way, taking the guitars back to the hotel. Generally in the hotel by about midnight or shortly thereafter.

 

Play bridge and drink beer until about 0400 or so, then off to bed. Up around noon at the earliest, since they wanted show time to be the middle of their day. The guys I worked with may have looked like long-haired hippies, but two were graduates of Eastman School of Music, trained in voice, composition, French horn, and keyboards. They had a keen interest in oddball things like contract bridge, and I took it up whether I wanted to or not.

 

On load-out nights, we'd pack the truck after the show, then go off to bed early after a few beers (say 0200), then up early to hit the road for the next gig, packing the cooler with plenty of beer to see us through the long drive. When we were doing the college coffeehouse circuit in the Midwest, we'd be on the road for a month at a time, with the routine almost the same every day.

 

Working coffee houses in NYC was better, since that's where the band was based.

 

Not exactly a glamorous existence, but I did learn how to play bridge.

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On the Great East Coast it was the local diner. At 3am most of the people in there were in bands or eating after watching/listening/dancing. The diners are about 80% gone now, as are the nightclubs, all night bowling alleys, and rock emporiums of yore.

 

rct

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Back in the day, we used to go to a hamburger place called Earl's. It was around until the late 80's and I started going there in the early 60's when I was in high school. Once I started playing music in bars, me and my friends would generally end-up there. It was a different kind of place. A bit grimy. Smokey. And had a real mix of humanity. I liked it, because it felt like "me." I think the pickers I was hanging with after jams thought the same about the place. Anyway, last year I saw pic of Earl's on the internet on a site with pics of Kansas City from the 60's and wrote this song. A Waffle House kind of place. Everyone has an Earl's Place from some place in their life.

 

Earl's Place

G)Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM down at Earl’s (Am)Place.

©Pancakes on the grittle….there’s a (G)guitar and a fiddle for (D)those inclined to (G)play…..

Sally the ©waitress is hot, although some(G)times the coffee’s not, but (D)that don’t seem to matter any(G)way.

On © Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G)Place.

G////C////G////

(G)Earl works the counter, but sometimes he’s the (Am)cook.

Whether ©he covers the shift or not depends on (G)who shows-up for work.

(G)He’s owned the place some twenty years. Ask him “Why?,” he’ll say “It’s (Am)FATE to be here”….on

©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

G////C////G////

 

(G)There’s a tattooed gal with a big biker man…..she picks-up the guitar and (Am)sings.

The ©biker man blows her a kiss and (G)listens patiently.

(G)He’s loves ridin’ that Harley out front, but he’s glad he’s here to(Am)day…..on

©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

G////C////G////

(G)A wild-haired woman at Table 2 is talk’in to her(Am)self

©No one pays much notice when she (G)yells “Go to hell!’

(G)Sally brings fresh coffee….sez, “Mary, we doin’ o(Am)kay?”….on

©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place

 

(G)The cook runs outback for a smoke, then heads back to the (Am)kitchen.

Two ©teenage boys drinkin’ malts eye the (G)tattooed gal and they’re wishin’

(G)They were that big biker man with the grin on his (Am)face,….on

©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

G////C////G////

(G)Hamburgers, fries, eggs and bacon…..awwww, the smell fills the (Am)air.

The food ©might not be the best, but it’s the (G)best around here.

(G)An old man and woman bow their heads…. quietly say (Am)grace….on

©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

 

BRIDGE—————————————

The ©front door blows open with a (G)cold gust of wind. ©A homeless couple and their little boy (G)are back again.

©They ain’t got no money. Ain’t (G)got no place to (Am)stay….but that’s o(G)Kay, on

©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

 

(G)There’s a picture of Earl’s wife right by the cash regis(Am)ter.

When ©she died Earl almost sold the place, but then he (G)dedicated it to her.

(G)And he’ll tell ya seeing that picture helps him “keep the (Am)faith”….on

©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

G////C////G////Am////C///G////

 

(G)Where Earl’s Place once stood is now a Costco’s parking (Am)lot.

Lots of good ©things I can buy at Costco’s, but old (G)memories I cannot.

(G)So, whenever life’s kickin’ my butt, I just recall some good old (Am)days..like

©On Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

 

Closing..........

©Just a little all-night dive for (G)children of the night and ©folks who crashed-down way-too-hard and (G)folks still flyin’ high. ©Winners, losers, saints and sinners, (Am)we’d all congregate, on ©Sunday mornin’, ‘round 4:00AM (D)down at Earl’s (G) Place.

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Working coffee houses in NYC was better, since that's where the band was based.

 

Not exactly a glamorous existence, but I did learn how to play bridge.

 

We were further upstate from you. We never needed to eat after a coffee house gig. Seemed most of the time we were paid with free food. We even did a gig for a washing machine. But the hours were decent and we never wandered far from home for the coffee house jobs. The electric band, however, played the Psychedeli in Bethesda, MD to the Speakeasy in Boston circuit. We did not play much in NYC but did a few gigs at Cooper Union.

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What does that even mean ?

 

I guess he's having problems stirring the pot with these type of subjects and he's having problems communicating that to us?

 

I grew up in the Cincinnati area and played the bars from '70-'75

The bars closed at 2:30 so by the time we packed up and went somewhere it was usually around 3:30

Our favorite spots were White Castle or breakfast at Noah's Ark.

It'd be a good idea if when bars closed in the wee hours of the morning that they switch to restaurant mode, put away the liquor and serve coffee and breakfast.

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We use to eat after music at a Waffle House quite a lot. We still eat at Waffle House some -- particularly while driving -- but we have not done the early morning (usually) breakfast thing in years.

 

Why I ask myself? Well in our case -- always with my musical partner wife -- we are older I guess. We still play some of the the same places we did for years, but mostly we use to not go alone to Waffle House and the people we use to go with just are not around us anymore -- it was always a social thing. We now usually head for home at 11-12, arrive home 12-1,and watch the news we missed on demand.

 

Time and technology march on, and sometimes you get stomped in the process.

 

We are still usually the last to leave -- something about our personalities I guess.

 

Let's pick -- but not too latemsp_crying.gif

 

-Tom

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That's what I love about internet forums and social media.

People post short, non-sequitur comments and we all get together to try to figure out what they mean and then talk about that instead of what the original thread was about.

 

Club... golf tees shirts.

 

GO !

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the "bs post" is for the reference to a place that had just been shot up with people killed and you folks just dreaming of breakfast ....

 

He kinda said that the place had been in the news alot lately and that most of us probably think of that place differently. I know I do.

 

So why come here if you just want news and all the stuff that goes with it? Can't people NOT be interested in the news in a guitar place, isn't that what it's for? Seems bogus to go into a place that is not the news and get all butt hurt because they are not talking about the news in that place that isn't about the news. Maybe.

 

rct

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Same here

"What/where do you guys in Europe eat after a gig?"

 

 

I guess you guys can't read. He asked what and where people in Europe eat after a gig, so if your not from across the pond there is no need to answer.

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so if your not from across the pond there is no need to answer.

 

Wow. Thanks for clearing that up. I hope everyone from the US will quickly delete what they have posted.

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