Last weekend I celebrated my friend Sansone's 50th birthday at a party at his house. Sans is a big music fan, has seen innumerable live shows in Boston (and elsewhere...I have a very drunken memory of him and I heckling the Dead Kennedy's mercilessly in San Francisco many years ago) and once worked at the Strawberry's on Washington Street. This was back in the day when Strawberry's was the biggest coolest record store (yes, actual "records") in town. He made many lasting friendships there...and in fact several showed up at the party in his honor (all bearing gifts of Dylan music). As in all such occasions the old stories came out, my favorite being the Bernard Shakey story.
It started at a Neil Young concert at Great Woods (now the Tweeter Center? God, I can't keep up with corporate branding). Sans decided to leave during the encore to avoid the inevitable traffic jam exiting the parking lot. He was making his way out slowly when he suddenly found himself directly behind the tour bus. Finding himself in such a position he did the only thing a self respecting record-store-working-music-nerd could possibly do, which was to follow the tour bus wherever it led. Which turned out to be a hotel in Providence R.I. Our man slowly circled the parking lot watching Neil disembark from the bus and head to his nights lodging. Extremely excited now, our man headed back to where his friends were congregating to regale them with the story of this coup.
They were, of course, suitably impressed to say the least. It was decided that the only thing to do, since they knew where he was staying, was to give old Neil a call on the phone.
"But," says Sans with telephone in hand, "no way he signed in as Neil Young, who am I going to ask for?"
"Bernard Shakey," replies one of his pals with authority.
So he calls.
"Hello, can I speak to Bernard Shakey please?"
"One moment..."
Ring...Ring
Bear in mind it is now 3:00 in the morning. A quacking, cracking falsetto,
"hello?"
pause of disbelief
"Neil?"
That distinctive Neil Young voice, now made even more tremulous by the hour and circumstance,
"yes?"
"Uh...I'm a big fan and I just wanted to say how much your music has meant to me and thank you and I'm a big fan etc."
"ok."
And that was it, the big brush with fame. It turns out Bernard Shakey was Neil's alias in his very first film "Journey Through The Past," such arcane knowedge being the very life blood of record store employees everywhere to this very day. As Sansone tells the story this many years later, he had the distinct urge to light up a cigarette after this little exchange, a satisfied young man.
