Gino’s Legacy Threatened

I have disturbing news about Gino: He may not have been the first white musician on Soul Train, after all, or at least, this can’t be verified. Writes my associate: “David Bowie, Elton John, Gino, Daryl, Tower of Power, and Dennis Coffey have all been identified as the first white blah blah. Snopes is silent on the subject.”

I wrote Lisa C. that she really had to see his “One Night with You” video on YouTube, or at least the first half of it. Her review:

“I actually think the second half is better, where he's dancing like he's trying to dislodge a colony of oyster crabs that's embedded itself in the manly mat of hair ornamenting his sacral region.

“You can't really see his sacrum or the hair thereupon in the video; I'm extrapolating based on his other abundant follicular endowments. Just wanted to spare you the necessity of watching that video again to see if you can see what I'm talking about.”

Lisa is funny. However, there was no need to spare me the necessity of watching that video. I got a YouTube account just so I could mark it as a favorite. Why, sometimes I watch it while listening to a different Gino Vannelli song on the CD player.

As noted in the news, there are many forest fires burning here in Northern California. Along about the 23rd of June, the brief summary of weather conditions at sfgate.com, where it usually says “Sunny” or “Partly cloudy,” said “Smoke.”

Right around then, the seat of the venerable wooden chair I use as a desk chair cracked, signaled by an ominous noise as I leaned back in it. It has been very wobbly for years and Tom has been warning me that one day it will collapse and I’ll crack my head open.

Above (because I can't figure out how to put it right here) is a picture of me on this chair, or its identical sibling, in 1965. Perhaps one of my readers can tell me where this chair came from in the first place and what became of its sister.

I was sorry the chair cracked because when I posted a note on Craigslist a while back seeking recommendations for people who can fix wooden things, I didn’t get a single response, so I figured I would have to call everyone in the furniture repair section of the Yellow Pages and that they would all say, “It’s made out of wood? No, we don’t deal with anything like that any more, but we’d be happy to sell you a seating system made out of space-age plastic with built-in urinal, apple corer and cigar humidor.”

But the very first person I called—Andrew Woodside Carter—said, “Sure, I can fix it.” I took the chair over there in a cab yesterday and found Andrew Woodside Carver to be a fresh-faced, appealing young (but not too young) guy who said he would glue my chair back together for $85. He wasn’t all that far from my place, either.

Afterwards, I walked to 15th and Mission in search of a cab, suspecting I’d have to wait for 30 minutes, have to call for one, or, god forbid, take the bus, but the second I got to the corner, there was an empty cab whose driver was as happy to see me as I was to see him. He said his previous fare had tried to bargain him down on the cost of a ride, and he’d had to say no.

Not only was this cab driver immediately available, he also happened to be outrageously good-looking (and happily married, from what I gleaned during the ride), and, to boot, a guitar teacher, which is something I’ve been looking for. He teaches at a music store here in San Francisco, and gave me his phone number so I can call about lessons.

When I got to work, I ordered a gig bag with backpack straps for my guitar so I can schlep it around by bicycle, which I suspect will be a sweaty and unwieldy operation.