Gonna wear my red shirt tonight; Joe Squared

Posted on: Thu, 10/18/2007 - 12:45 By: Tom Swiss

Working more on the "favorite shirt" idea for a piece...

Now I pretty much grew up on "Star Trek" - original series. I mean, my parents have a portrait of Kirk and Spock hanging in their living room, ok? And one thing you learn from watching Star Trek is, never wear a red shirt.

'Cause every damn time, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and some poor sucker in a red shirt beam down to the planet - and guess who gets all the salt in his body sucked out, or gets a knife in the chest from some warrior-culture alien, or catches the horrible disease that dissolves your whole body into a pile of powder? Right. The dude in the red shirt.

But then I grew up. And then they did the whole "next generation" thing, where the captain wears a red shirt, and the guy in yellow always buys it.

And then one night on the cable TV classic movie show I saw "Rebel Without a Cause", where James Dean wears this cool red jacket - which technically isn't a shirt, but close enough, right?

Anyway, point is, eventually I learned to love the red shirt. You grow, you learn, you put away childish ways, that's what life is all about.

so i'm gonna wear my red shirt tonight



gonna wear my red shirt tonight

gonna wear my red shirt tonight



it's my favorite shirt

it's the color of passion

it's my only red shirt

I don't care if it's in fashion

ummm-hmmmm



gonna wear my red shirt tonight

gonna wear my red shirt tonight



well i don't wear no power ties

in fact i try not to wear ties at all

but i got me a power shirt

bought it off the rack at a store called Kohl's

ummm-hmmmm



gonna wear my red shirt tonight

gonna wear my red shirt tonight



buddhist monks, they wear red robes

but me, I wear red to get girls

those monks don't know what they're missing

I get lovin' all around the world

ummm-hmmmm



gonna wear my red shirt tonight

gonna wear my red shirt tonight



it's my favorite shirt

it's a a hundred percent cotton

it's my lucky red shirt

I've glad that I have got one

ummm-hmmmm



gonna wear my red shirt tonight

gonna wear my red shirt tonight



old joke about a pirate ship

the captain would always wear a red shirt

so they could not see the blood

if in battle, he got hurt

ummm-hmmmm



but then one day they were surrounded

they were outnumbered, had no chance

the captain called on his first mate

to bring him, his brown pants!

ummm-hmmmm



think about it!



gonna wear my red shirt tonight

gonna wear my red shirt tonight



it's my favorite shirt

it's the color of passion

it's my only red shirt

I don't care if it's in fashion

ummm-hmmmm



gonna wear my red shirt tonight

gonna wear my red shirt tonight


Hanging out at Joe Squared tonight. Hoping to meet up with Kelly, but either way I got a little something written, so it's all good. Ran into Jason from Telesma, who it turns out lives upstairs from the bar.

Interesting place, Joe^2. I was only here once before my trip to Nihon, after a reading at Load of Fun - it's right across the street. It's up-scaled a little bit since then, interesting cross-section of Baltimore bohemia. (And pretty girls. Yes, definitely.) It could become a more frequent destination. (I make a joke with the bartenders about everyday tasks as Olympic events, filling the ice bin, my father as a parallel parking contender.)

Quarter of 1...getting unlikely I'm going to get to meet up with the lovely lady I'd hoped to see tonight. Still, stuff written, connection with a new bar forged - an evening well spent, I think.