CHICAGO BLUES BAR

Pull up a chair. Order something good. The blues are about to begin.

There’s something about a little blues bar after dark. The lights are low, the whiskey’s poured, and nobody’s in much of a hurry to get home.

This is where Stella comes out to play, the harmonica starts talking, the upright bass finds its groove, and a saxophone or a smoky clarinet slips into the conversation.

Some songs are about love. Some are about trouble. And some are about the kind of woman who can make a man forget every sensible plan he ever had.

Around here, we like our blues slow, our stories interesting, and our whiskey worth drinking.

Welcome to Capt Len’s Chicago Blues Bar.

Stay awhile. We’ve got stories to tell.

THE REDHEAD WHO CHANGED MY PLANS

Brownsville, Texas. A delivery bonus, a flight attendant, and a week I hadn’t planned on.

I’d just finished a delivery job in Brownsville, Texas, and had a little bonus money in my pocket. The sensible thing would have been to head home, put the money away, and get on with whatever came next.

But sensible decisions haven’t always made my best stories.

Somewhere along the way, I met a redheaded flight attendant. She was the sort of woman who could make a fellow forget what day it was, much less where he was supposed to be going.

One thing led to another, and Austin suddenly seemed like a much better destination than wherever I’d originally intended to go.

I ended up spending a week there. A week I hadn’t planned on, a week that made me late getting home, and a week I still remember with a smile.

I won’t pretend there was some grand lesson in the experience. Sometimes you meet somebody, enjoy the company, and let life take an unexpected turn.

The redhead didn’t ruin my plans. She made me forget I had them.

And years later, that little detour found its way into a song called Whiskey Bar Blues.

Funny how some of the best memories begin with a perfectly good plan going straight out the window.

— Capt Len