An Unplanned Friday Night
I caught the train that runs to downtown Sakae, and like every other friday night, I made my way down to Heaven’s Door. The small bar down in the basement of the liveliest district of Nagoya. To the upsetting of my perfectly ordinary friday night, the door said “Closed until next week”.
Disappointed, and quite uneasy with the fact that I won’t get my dose of intoxication with beer, nicotine, and Bob Dylan, I refuted the idea to call anyone or try any other bars, and made my way home through the big puzzle of little alleys that connects this city.
It was a very picturesque walk. I was already armed with the over coat and the scarf around my neck. The hands in the pockets. The melancholy of Pamuk’s Istanbul, and the echoes of the last two hours of Maya’s Manifesto. Tom Waits telling me that he’s “in love with a jersey girl…”. A fair baggage of painful memories, a road that goes ahead and little drops of rain pouring every now and then.
If this was a movie, this would be where all the revelations come pushing through, and driving the hero either to death or discovering his hidden success.
It was all too suited for that. All too suited indeed, that I walked into the first bar that had decent music and effectively anesthetized all these seeds of revelation.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:06 am
…good stuff!!
January 12th, 2008 at 2:56 am
great post. I love those moments…
January 12th, 2008 at 5:21 am
You captured the atmosphere of that moment well… Pity you’re not in Tokyo, you could have gone to
lê Says:
January 12th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Hi Yazan, its me lê, (karkour) from brasil, it is nice to read your blog, and thanks for reminding us of MUSTAPHA AL AKKAD,
as I stayed home this rainy afternoon I enjoyed watching the MESSAGE,
have a peacefull 2008
January 12th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
one thing I forgot to ask you about LATAKIA, we used to have fool for brakefast at the 3ASSAFIRI coffi while fishing, that was a very nice place, is it still there ?
January 13th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Wish I was in that bar when you walked. We could’ve had a great chat.
Cheers buddy!
January 13th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
When revelation comes I always think it is here to stay, but if we don’t catch it in sound or in writing, it vanishes.
Lé, I was in Assafiri last year; great place for an arguile in the afternoon.
January 13th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Thank you all,
Le,
The Assafiri you know is long gone, I ‘ve seen photos and my parents used to reminisce about it. But the Assafiri that’s left is behind the concrete Latakia Port, so theres no glimpse of the sea that used to run underneath it.
And definitely no finishing.
Abu Fares,
Right on my friend, right on.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:16 am
such a wonderful description and a very bold decision. Hope you enjoyed the new bar
January 14th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I have some of those ‘Pamuk Istanbullu Huzun’ moments here in Tokyo, too.
Nice entry.. :)
January 14th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Yazan,
about 15 years ago I was fishing the central Amazon, I wanted to photograph some natives fishing with arch, they came to me and said, dont do that ,I asked them why , they said ,photographs steal the soul , for me that was a jock, years passed and some times I look at some old fishing photos of the syrian rivers, and get into a deep melancoly, knowing that these rivers do not exist any more,belive me,I started fishing at the quiek river 20 meters from my house .
now I belive that photos steal the soul , and for the last 5 years i took no photos,
January 14th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Yazan,
beautifully illustrated. These moments are rarely lived and when they are, it feels like some scene from a movie. I had one of those last year. I really felt like time froze and I was in some movie. Oh, life!
January 16th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I am having these moments all the time. Happy me!
And U2!
January 18th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Cheers to you Yazan.
Sahtak
January 18th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Hi Yazan
A beautiful place here!
Excellent post!
Thank you.
have a good day
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 am
very neat story bud, made my morning better :)