" Wayne & Wayne "
" Meet With Joe Roberts "
" ...Me an Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
As the band played..Night of the Johnstown Flood... "
From: wayne&wayne@darlington.com
Subject: Takin' Turns Dancin' With Maria!!
My brother Wayne and I headed out to Nebraska on Sunday night. We
pulled our mini-van into Perrineville around 7pm.
It took us a while
to find Joe and Maria, but the guy at the gas station
told us about their chicken farm
up on Route 12, and we
headed in that direction.Let me tell ya, he was
none too
happy about us showin' up! Wayne convinced him to talk
to us
pleadin' that we wanted to talk to a cop
who did an honest job..as honest
as he could..
and merely let people escape, rather than shootin' at 'em
41
times...Once I dragged Joe off of Wayne, and took
the 2 x 4 off of him,
things calmed down and we got started...Here's what Joe had to say:
"Well, when the thing with Frankie happened, I was a Sergeant outta
Perrineville, Barracks Number 8. Once the song became a hit though,
they busted me back to Trooper and suspended me for 30 days without
pay for lettin' a felon escape. I been retired for 8 years now, bought me
this here chicken' farm in '91. I kept the ole squad car, and though she
can't do 110 thru Michigan County no more, the siren still works, and on
real clear nights I can pick up the Chicago P.D. on the radio. That
damn Frankie, I was always bailin' his ass out of shit. Not even a damn
Christmas card since then. Last I heard of him, he was workin' as a
guide at one of them Canadian hunting lodges."
"So he made it over the border?", Wayne asked.
"Oh no", said Joe, "about
two miles on this side, his tail lights re-appeared, and he happened to pass
a Highway Patrolman who
wasn't his brother. He got locked up and did 11
years in the Nebraska State Pen. That kid in the road house......the one he
beat up? He was in real
bad shape.....Joey somethin or other....even had to
quit his Tilt-a-Whirl job...Frankie still has to send him half his paycheck each
week. (Wayne and I nodded at each
other, amazed at the smallness of this
vast universe).
By the end of the night, it was if we had known Joe for years. We were all
laffin' and drinkin', Joe let Wayne play with the police car lights, and we all
took turns dancin' with Maria...Her mood soured when she danced with
Wayne though, he told her he was risin' like the waters of the Johnstown
Flood. She also beat him with the 2 x 4, while me and Joe talked of the
problems associated with having stupid brothers.
Later, as we were preparin' to leave, I asked him about that song, Night
of the Johnstown Flood. I had assumed it was one of them Pennsylvania
Garage Group tunes, but Joe told me there was no such song. They always
danced to Inagadda Da Vida, but "Vida" didn't rhyme with "blood", so Bruce
just made the shit up.
Wayne and I left, wiser men, but a shade sadder, with our new-found
insight of the fact that Bruce had compromised his lyrics. We thought
of keepin that fact to ourselves, but our job is to report the "story behind
the music". So let the story speak for itself. We try to do an honest job,
as honest as we can...
As we headed down that county road, Wayne nursed the gashes on his
face, and my thoughts turned to Sherry's Mom, and her feet...Could they
really have been that big????? We'll let ya know..that's our next stop!!!
Till then....
ROCK ON!!!
Wayne&Wayne...
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