Java Junction Diaries...Chapter 1: The birth of the band

My best friend Emily and I used to switch shifts with people in order to work with each other.  We were closers at Java Junction and used to hot box the bathroom at 9:30 sharp.   Just a block from the beach in Santa Cruz California, it was a perfect place to spend my 20's. 

 Joey was a customer of ours.  He worked at a print shop down the street and was a pretty clammy guy.  He used to come in and ask for a squeeze which was something I never should have obliged. Emily told him to squeeze himself, I'm proud of her to this day.

 Emily and I  used to get ripped and play frisbee on the beach after work.  We realized you could dive for the disc and the sand would break your fall, so we dove for every throw weather we had to or not.  It was very fulfilling. After that, we would go to play ping pong and the Pizza joint with our friend Carrie (who also worked at Java Junction) Carrie would attend Peyote Way Sweats.  She and fellow participants spent the morning building a sweat lodge and took peyote into the night, tripping balls and finding their way back to sanity into an enlightened morning.  Most people participated once a year Carrie went twice a month.

Jack, whose real name was Jennifer, rode her bike everywhere.  She had those cat glasses and was a sassy librarian type who loved learning!  Meow!!!!  She wore red lipstick, and once had an encounter with a guy who called himself Solid Gold (what a dick!)

Duggan used to work early mornings.  He was always very very stoned and had the glasses that shaded, even indoors, which suited him. He spoke with an assertive but soft voice and I had to fight being subconsciously subdued and tell my lady parts "NO!"

Rachel was my housemate and a culinary arts student who had the greatest smile and would invite us to the meals her class would host, she was both a night owl and a morning person!  

Brad was the Manager. He worked on old cars whenever he could and drank his whiskey neat.  He had great hair, didn't believe in God, loved everybody, had the bluest eyes...he listened to metal, punk and Johnathan Richman. I still miss him.

Java Junction was the place everyone in our beach neighborhood went: Students, Poets, Philosophy Professors, Skaters, etc.  We listened to the Talking Heads,  Bowie, Modest Mouse, Weezer, Offspring, Pearl Jam, Ani DiFranco...the stack of CD's was higher than we were...almost.

 The kids who came in were all students studying for  tests, in a band or going to some show. Emily and I were none of those things.  I had a depressive episode at college after an assault and had no intention of going back.  

So to keep the inadequacy at bay, we bought guitars.  When people asked us what we were doing later that night we would just say were were having band practice.

"Band practice"  was really just us learning 2 chord classic rock songs and smoking more pot while our buddy Nate, who was also our Bartender, drank Rainer and watched us until his shift at Brady's Yacht club began.  

The lowkey Kaufman style comedy does not elude me.  I savor moments where one wonders where fiction and non-fiction merge.

6 months had past. The cafe started to ask us what our bands name was.  It got both Emily and I thinking and we threw ideas for what we should call ourselves but nothing stuck.

It wasn't until I was shopping for groceries one night that the "keeper" came to me.  I was half way down the frozen food isle and I felt a tender tingle on my right nipple from cold freezer that opened and closed as someone grabbed some chicken patties or some such frozen dinner item.  It occurred to me that having only one of my nipples go hard was a bit of a cattywampus sensation and I contemplated pinching the other one, just to match.  

I mean, how awkward right? One hard nipple!

One Hard Nipple. 

That was it! Our band name!  I paid for my groceries and rode my bike to Emily's to share the good news! We celebrated by sharing Nates nachos!

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