Free How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets by Garth Stein

cool. Almost a fantasy for Evan to be playing for Dean. It’s like he can finally show off. Music, the one thing he can do well, is the one thing his family never sees him do. Oh, his brother used to come to gigs, but then his wife, Allison, stopped coming because she developed an allergy to smoke (aren’t we all allergic to smoke?), and he doesn’t go anywhere without her. His parents went to a gig once, when Evan was just out of high school, and they told him how proud they were of him, but, without excuse or explanation, they never came again. So, to go from being left out on the street to being on stage in front of Dean is kind of a dream come true.
    “Hey, everybody, ” Theo says into the microphone, “A surprise guest dropped in tonight—”
    “Tom Waits!” someone shouts out. The crowd cheers.
    “If you came for Tom, you came to the wrong place. This here’s Evan, formerly of Dog Run. He’s supposed to be pretty hot, so we’re gonna jam a little. Cool?”
    He turns to the band and counts off a quick one, two, three—
    And they spring to life. The entire band suddenly jerks into motion and shoots forward and Evan feels like he’s barely hanging on. They’ve all been playing together for who knows how long. They all know each other. And Evan is supposed to play with them? The key changes are abrupt and sometimes discordant. Evan is flailing, not in a groove at all. He’s desperately looking at the bass player to see what key they’re in, but it’s a six string bass and he’s all over the fret board.
    But then Theo solos on the tenor sax and things settle down. The bass player smiles at Evan and leans in.
    “Just chill, man, ” he shouts. “Chill.”
    Evan calms down and starts comping underneath the sax— ching-a-ching-ching-a-ching—until he gets the changes down.
    Again, he looks for Lars and Dean. They’re still there, Lars bobbing his big white head to the music and Dean smiling, bobbing along, too. Smiling.
    Billy and his girlfriend are still at their table; the seats vacated by the band are filled with new friends. The girl glances up at Evan and smiles. He smiles back. Everyone is smiling. God, he loves music!
    They cycle through the solos. Cello, trumpet, pedal steel, and then Theo turns to Evan, holds his hand like a gun, and pulls the trigger.
    Bang .
    Good musicians have a vocabulary of riffs and phrases and segues they can put together to make musical sense. The better the musician, the bigger the vocabulary, the more dynamic the performance. Evan, who’s been playing the guitar seriously for twenty years and has the gift of remembering almost everything he hears, has an Oxford English Dictionary of riffs in his head. And, using as much of his vocabulary as he can, he puts together a solo that starts funky, dips into blues, touches on jazz and wails in rock. The other musicians nod in time, smile at his playing, until Theo points again and mouths “Step back, ” and Evan steps back. The tune continues a dozen more bars and then peaks with a cacophony of howls from the horns before it crashes to the floor.
    “Dead, ”Theo says into the microphone.
    The crowd cheers.
    “Let’s hear it for Evan, people.”
    More applause.
    The musicians slap at Evan’s hands, slap him on the back and then Theo steps up to Evan.
    “Billy was right, you’re good, man, ” he says into Evan’s ear. “Next time you’re in New York, gimme a call, we’ll hang out.”
    “WHAT THE FUCK were you doing up there?” Lars yells as soon as Evan arrives at the bar. The crowd shushes them. The band is playing.
    “What the fuck? ” Lars repeats in a whisper. He’s shaking his head and grinning, his pale blue eyes open wide.
    “You were fucking jamming with Lucky Strike! ”
    Shh! Shhh!
    “This fucking guy, ” Lars laughs. He reaches out and punches Dean’s arm. Dean laughs, too.
    EVAN TRIES TO find Billy and Theo after the gig, but it’s useless; they’re gone. Lars offers Dean and him a lift