March 18, 1994 Fire claims the Wabash Triangle Cafe
So, for the first time in about a week I didn’t really do a lot of writing yesterday. Instead, I spent several hours doing some research. It really started out as a search for a picture of the cafe (no luck, other than the picture of the fire above), but eventually it became a half day spent following any links I could find that dealt with the Wabash and it’s patrons. And while the information wasn’t vast, there were some gems to be found. I eventually even started looking into the Wabash Railroad company, as the cafe was named after the Wabash Railroad hub that used to reside where the Metro Link station is just east of The Pageant.
Why is this important to the album? Well, The Wabash Cafe is not at this stage of writing a concept album per se, but there is a definite vibe and feel that I want to achieve with both the album and this website that is informed by the places and people who have been focal points of my life. The Wabash Triangle Cafe, the old Haven coffee house in Maplewood, late nights at the old Denny’s on 44 & Lindbergh – sometimes places become more than just where you hang out. When the right mix of atmosphere and personalities get together they become a whole greater than the sum of its parts, a community, that can enrich your life. I hope to achieve something like that with this project.
I’ve finished the lyrics and most of the music for the next song I plan to record. The title is “Choices We Made”, and it’s about looking back on your life and realizing that all of the choices you made led to who you are now, and understanding the interconnectedness of those choices. Our regrets about past choices often fail to take into account the things we gained because of those choices. I never finished college, and there are times in my life where I have regretted that. But if I had finished school, the odds are very good that I would have never met my wife, wouldn’t have my little girl, and I wouldn’t have met many of the beautiful people I’ve found along my road. Here are the lyrics to “Choices We Made” – I hope you enjoy them.
Choices We Made
The first time I read Tom Sawyer
I thought I’d sail Big Muddy down
Find my Becky Thatcher and we’d own this town
But ol’ Huck Finn and Injun Joe
Gave way to other things
Like stickball in the schoolyard first day of spring
(Chorus)
The years flow by like a river
Dreams they rise and fade
We are the people we are today
Because of the choices we made
Good grades succumbed to good times
I had my share of fun
Like kissing Cathy Whittmer in the morning sun
I took a couple of road trips
Thought I’d see the world
Drinking wine in Vienna as my story unfurled
(Chorus)
In 96′ I found the girl of my dreams
And I’ve made so many friends
It’s been one hell of a ride, I hope it never ends
I don’t know what’s down the road ahead
I’m not so big on plans
But I’ve got this leap of Faith that I can hold in my hands
(Chorus)
(Chorus – alternate)
Though the years have taken some
I wished that could have stayed
They’re in my thoughts, and in my heart
Because of the choices they made
Hey gang, welcome to my new website – “The Wabash Cafe”. It’s named after the Wabash Triangle Cafe, an old coffee house and cafe that used to stand on the site where The Pageant sits now on the east side of the Delmar Loop in St. Louis. The Wabash was the gathering spot for an eclectic mix of musicians, poets and writers during it’s all too short tenure. It was the kind of place that could host slam poetry one night, bagpipers the next, and a punk band the night after that – and most of each crowd would be the same folks, enjoying all of it. The food was good, and the conversations were better. Unfortunately, the Wabash burned down to the ground in the early morning hours of March 18, 1994. And while we can never go back, I hope to capture a little of that spirit here in my music and in this community.
I’ll be blogging on here about the process of writing my first album – sharing with you the early returns, the frustrations and the breakthroughs. You can already check out the first song – click the ReverbNation link on the right side to hear “Anonymous”. I’ll also fill you in as there are website updates. For now, it’s just the blog, the “About” page, and a couple of links. Expect a few more links soon, and an update about the songs I’m working on currently.
After some bad experiences in the past, which included my provider needing to shut down access to my account because of hackers, I am going to have the comments to these posts moderated for now. I hope it’s not too big of an inconvenience, as I’d love your feedback on the music and the site.
Thanks for checking in, and thanks for your support. I look forward to sharing my journey with you. I hope you’ll pull up a chair, order a cup of Joe, and enjoy your time here in The Wabash Cafe.
Brian
