Cornershot

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Some people might think that nothing happens in downtown Roanoke on a Sunday afternoon.

Those people are wrong.

Here’s what I saw one recent Sunday afternoon, when I was helping a friend move out of his place on Campbell Avenue:

First, a fellow who looked down on his luck shuffled up the street with a lady friend. He peered in the window of the 7 to 7 Market, but it was closed. Then he shouted across the street to our group of movers, asking if there was a store nearby.

I directed him to the Zena Market, on Salem Avenue. “I’ll pay you heavily to give me a ride there,” he said.

Umm, nobody wanted to take up that offer, and his lady friend told him, “Come on, it’s just a block.”

As the man walked way, he grumbled loudly: “I was going to pay them $20.”

A short while later, another man appeared — this one neatly groomed, and asking if there was anywhere around that had live music. Probably not on a Sunday, we said, but we directed him to several possible sites.

Before long, he reappeared, having checked them out and found nothing going on. He said he was a pilot for a well-known airline and was staying at “that old European hotel on the hill” — the Hotel Roanoke. He also said he had a strong desire to hear some Janis Joplin and was willing to pay for it.

One of the women in our group responded by belting out a few impromptu verses to “Mercedes Benz.” Suddenly, the pilot whipped out a huge roll of bills, and peeled off a dollar to give to her. She laughed, sang some more, then gave the dollar back. No, he insisted, it’s yours.

Just then, another down-on-his-luck fellow appeared, saw a man with a fat roll of cash handing out money and asked what was happening.

Informed that he needed to sing some Janis Joplin to qualify, he lit into a warbly version of “Me and Bobby McGhee” and was rewarded with a dollar of his own.

Some people might think that nothing happens in downtown Roanoke on a Sunday afternoon.

Those people are wrong.

Saturday, September 14, 2013