Dog Days Tale: Honesty Is the Best Policy – Mostly: A Memorial to Sly Stone
Mike snapped me out of one of my dreams. ”Hey,” he said. “Phone’s for you.” To my inquiring stare he whispered, “Judy Drake. The Phoenix.”
My stomach went cold. “Err, hi Judy,” I croaked.
“Chuck,” she said. “Interesting review. But I’ve got a few questions.”
“Interesting”? I knew that “interesting” was Judy’s word for copy that didn’t qualify for her usual adjective of “great.”
A few questions? My throat went dry. “Okay,” I croaked again. “I mean, Fine! Shoot.”
“Well,” she said, “here’s three: First, what is it you didn’t like about the bass player?”
“Ummm, sure,” I said. “And, uh, the second one?”
“What was it,” she asked, “about Sly’s singing that you said was ‘off-center’?”
“Right. Uh, yeah. Got it. And third?”
“The new song,” she said, “the one they did in the encore. What was the name of it?”
New song? What new song??
“Okay,” I said again. Then cleared my throat. And coughed. I thought maybe I had forgotten how to breathe.
“Chuck? You still there?”
Oh, I was there. And I was so, so busted. ”Um, Judy,” I said slowly, “there’s something I need to explain.”