It's 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning in June. My eyes slowly open as the first rays of sun reach through the slit in the drapes and the one made by my half open eyelids. I stretch and realize I'm naked. I try to remember Friday night and, as I do, I realize there is a beautiful, very young looking woman sleeping next to me. I stare and realize she is way out of my league.
I rack my brain, "WTF did I do last night?" I rub my eyes, look at her again and amend that to "WTF did I do right last night?"
I quietly get out from under the covers, spot her purse amongst a Red Sox jersey, a bra, panties, shorts and sandals, and take the purse with me to the bathroom making sure I don't wake her in the process. Once on the throne I rummage through the handbag for identification and find her driver's license in her wallet . Her address is half way across the country. Somehow that makes me melancholy. Her first name is Karen. I audibly sigh with relief when I calculate from her birth date that she is 23 years old. I then hear rustling of the covers from the bedroom.
I'm now stuck in the can with Karen's purse, don't really know Karen, but apparently "know" Karen. I hear my audio system click on in the bedroom. and I quickly stash the entire purse on the roof outside the bathroom window while I contemplate how to handle the situation.
"Hey baby, where is that Jon Jonsson CD called Wait For Fate that you played for us last night?", the sultry morning voice of an angel whispers at the door to the head. I turn on the shower and begin to step in, "Check in the player." She slowly says, "Which of your buttons should I push?" I pretend not to hear and get fully under the running water.
My thoughts wander, "Okay, we're modern day adults and contemporaries, just like Jon Jonsson's album. Beautiful contemporary rock for adults, and boy did last night rock, I think, at least from the evidence." I hear a knock at the door as the first strains of Jonsson's lead song "Wanna Get In" ring. The locked door knob jiggles, trying to be turned as Jonsson sings, " . . . make up your mind . . . " Karen, taps at the door, "Let me in baby, I'll wash those hard to reach places for you" and suddenly, there are no hard to reach places. Jonsson continues, ". . . I want you as my spouse."
Between the slick beauty of the Icelandic singer's soothing voice and easy romantic rock - acoustic guitar, piano, bass and drums - and romantic lyrics, Friday night just won’t come into focus. The jazzy blues based track "Always Going To Be There" floats and swells. I quietly unlock the bathroom door without getting out of the shower.
The door slowly swings open and a rush of cool air enters the steamy bathroom. Jonsson's balladeer track, for which he names the CD, "Wait For Fate" adds an ethereal ambiance to the wet mist and anticipation as the bathroom curtain is slowly pulled open.
My head is under water as Karen steps into the tub. Jonsson sings, "Ocean girl, love is in the air . . .", in the song Ocean Girl and I remember a Friday night walk on the beach, a bonfire, many, many shots of tequila, and beautiful guitar music. I open my eyes to look at her through the shower head cascade.
I can't believe it. I think, "This came home with me?" She looks at me, pulls me close and says, "I'm sure glad you introduced me to Jon Jonsson. It is like he is in my soul and knows me." I smile, and think to myself, "Can I pick them or what?" Jonsson was educated at Boston University and it seems she is from the same area, based on the Red Sox jersey.
The music turns intimate and lonesome as Jonsson croons his lost love ode, "To Her." She wants me to hold her and she holds me. The song "Little Tree" follows with a sad, south Louisiana blues feel. We soap each other’s backs. Jonsson sings "Sooner Or Later," a touching ballad about regret over how a man treated a woman. She melts into my arms. I turn the water off and reach for a towel as a "Sunny Day In June," a track in which Jonsson recounts the beginning of a courtship, resounds off the bathroom tile. The analogy is not lost on Karen. She bats her eyes, grabs my towel and decides to dry me off.
She turns around and looks in the mirror. As if Jonsson wrote a soundtrack for this seduction he sings "Lately," with the lyric, "Lately, I've been checking you out girl . . . . " and I do just that. She sees the digital clock on my Sonicare, grabs another towel, dries her hair and exclaims, "I'm late, didn't know it was so late. I've got to go" and she runs into the bedroom to her clothes. I dry my hair and ask, "Where do you have to be?" She replies "work" as she puts on her underwear. Jonsson captures my feeling about her leaving with "Miss U So" and I inexplicably begin to tear up. I brush my teeth and hear Karen getting agitated in the bedroom. "Have you seen my purse?" I spit and rinse.
I lie. "No, what does it look like?" Jonsson sings the up-beat "Kiss In The Morning" and I walk over to her and do just that. She replies, "Not now, I've got to find my purse and get to work". I look at her and say "Don't worry. I'm sure it will turn up." She panics a bit and says, "My keys are in it. I can't start or drive my car without it." I reply, "Don't worry, I can drive you to work and pick you up. In the mean time I will look for it and bring it to you when I pick you up if I find it." She only hesitates for a moment, cocks her head ever so slightly to the right, and says, "Have any more of that Jon Jonsson music?" I hesitate, "I'll see what I can find." She replies, "Then, okay, but we have to hurry. Get dressed."
The final song on Wait For Fate commences, "When You're Around", which exclaims "When you're around every day gets really better . . . ." I smile, finish getting dressed and grab my car keys. I turn to her and ask, "Karen, where are we going?" She responds, "Who's Karen?"
- Old School
“Lately”
Jon Jonsson & his Wonderful Friends @ Hemmi&Valdi
Jon Jonsson | Myspace Music Videos
“Kiss In The Morning”
Jon Jonsson & his Wonderful Friends - Kiss in the Morning
Jon Jonsson | Myspace Music Videos