artwork: ralph murre
At the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee
by Stephen Anderson
Something
tells me that the little man
in striped
short sleeves and a Sears’ tie
could really
cut loose with a wild, wailing
boogie-woogie
on that awesome Kimball concert organ
on stage down
at the Oriental Theater,
instead of the
take-me-out-to-the-ballgame/true-blue
schmaltz he is
probably told to play before the previews
come on. Not that there’s anything patently wrong
with his
standard repertoire, but that magnificent organ
has got to be
capable of so much more, as I’m sure the man is.
Watching him
play, I can imagine him suddenly exploding
into a Ray
Charles or, hell, even a Jerry Lee Lewis rocking rendition
in which he
shakes the sleepy, popcorn-eating, soda swilling place
up a bit, maybe
even bringing those exotic moldings and fixtures to life
before the
main feature sparkles from the screen.
And so, every
time I’m sitting there waiting for the big screen fare,
I’ll imagine
how nice it would be if he could, just once,
snap out of
the corral he’s in, out of all that has been constrained inside,
and make
hulk-like all that stuff barely breathing there.
~ previously
published in Fox Cry Review
