Funny How Time Flies

I got the memo: it was small business Saturday.

With limited funds, I couldn't do a lot to support the cause, but I did what I could.

That meant a walk to Carytown, five plus miles there and back, to pick up a shoe being repaired at Mitchem's and observe capitalism in action.

It was a zoo.

Traffic barely crawled, the sidewalks were jam-packed and all I could hope was that all those independent stores were making bank today.

But you can be sure that once I procured my shoe, I escaped as quickly as possible.

Turning south to escape the hullabaloo of Cary Street, I was greeted by the sound of bells and horse hooves clopping as a holiday-decorated horse and carriage headed down Idlewood.

Nice seasonal touch.

Returning to Cary just in time to score a chocolate-frosted doughnut from Dixie, I headed east where I was surprised to see two artists working on a street art mural near Stafford Street.

Curious about why they were still painting at this point, I crossed the street to ask.

Seems there were a couple of unfinished sections of wall and they'd been given the chance to do something about that.

"This is our third weekend working on it. So now we're out here in the dead of winter, well, I guess the dead of fall, but it feels like winter, finishing up finally," one told me.

A foursome walked by and complimented her on her piece, saying it looked like a quilt and she smiled broadly as if she wasn't freezing with a paintbrush in her hand on the shady side of the street.

An unexpected art bonus.

Further on, a favorite bartender jogged past, waving and saying hi as we uncharacteristically saw each other in broad daylight.

In what seemed like no time at all, I was back in J-Ward where we also have small businesses in need of support.

This was more fun because it involved music.

Local band My Darling Fury (a brilliant band name if you ask me) was playing at Steady Sounds as part of Black Saturday/Record store day or maybe just because they frequently host bands on Saturday afternoons.

Here was my chance to support a local business and hear live music.

The first surprise was that the performance started right on time, a rarity in record store shows, but MDF began playing before I even got started looking through the record bins.

It was at least my third or fourth time seeing the band and I like these guys a lot.

In the casual atmosphere of Steady Sounds, the crowd was practically on top of them, but in a good way.

Some people continued to browse the stacks but eventually they were won over by the sound.

I recognized several of the songs like "Friendly Parasite" and "Spilled Milk" and laughed when during "Perfectly Mad," drummer Joel called out "guitar solo!" to alert us what was coming up.

Midway through their set, Todd, whose upright bass playing adds immeasurably to MDF's sound, suggested to the others that they do "Head Over Heels," and Danny claimed he didn't know the lyrics.

Conveniently, Joel had them in a zip-lock bag so with that instantly-recognizable (at least to me) intro, they launched into the 28-year old nugget as Steady Sounds owner Marty looked over at me grinning.

They did a really excellent version, and let's be real here, plenty of singers don't have the range for that song, but it took some of the audience a while before they recognized it, understandable since they hadn't been alive in 1985.

Singer Danny didn't want to do "Blots in the Margins" but bowed to band peer pressure and then finished with "The End of the World," which has been their closer, appropriately enough, every time I've seen them.

My music itch scratched, I finally got a chance to do some record shopping, picking up three albums for Christmas presents and doing my small part for small business Saturday while the band packed up.

It occurred to me that if My Darling Fury wanted to cover a Tears for Fears song, they'd have the perfect set-ender with "Goodnight Song."

Here on the stage the time has come
With the strains of "be my angel" of rock in two four
Time may keep alive that old swan song
That we've been playing forever
Till the time may be right to say goodbye

But then I remembered that my responsibility on this Saturday was to spend money, not offer set list advice to strangers, so I took my records and walked home.

You have to admit, 'tis the season for an angel of rock in two four...just saying.