When John Prine Was a Mailman

The great song writer John Prine was working as a mail man when he made his first appearance on stage at an open mic night, basically on a dare.

"It was just a little club in Chicago, not even 20 people in there when I got up. I wasn’t the type to heckle, but I’d had a few beers and wasn’t really impressed with what I was hearing and said so under my breath. And someone at the next table said, ‘Well if it’s so easy, why don’t you get up and do it?’  So I said, ‘Well, maybe I will.’  I got up and sang Sam Stone and the audience just sat there. They looked at me, looked at each other, looked at me again… seemed like an eternity and, finally, they started applauding. The owner of the club came up afterwards and offered me a job singing there. I couldn’t believe it.”

John Prine was asked to come back the next week on open-mic night to sing two or three songs

And so he did.

And after that set, he was invited to come back for the next week’s open-mic night to sing  two or three more songs.

And he did.

This went on for months, and after about 12 weeks of it, John told the club manager he was a bit exhausted and was going to have skip the next open-mic night  — he was having trouble writing two or three new songs every week.

The club manager was astounded.

“You mean you write two or three NEW songs EVERY WEEK for this place?”

John thought that was the assignment -— to present new material every week.

I tell this story because when I started this “dog blog,” I thought I had to write something new every day, on top of all the writing I was doing in my day job.

It was a lot, and after 18 years of doing it every day, I was getting tired.

And then I heard John Prine talking about his early days on open-mic night.

What?  You mean, I can recycle??

Cool.

So now I do that, and without apology.  

Thanks John Prine! We all miss you.