![\"20090510JenkinsMalone001018\"](\"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20090510JenkinsMalone001018.jpg\")
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(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight<\/A>)<\/p>\n Along about the second weekend in May, Jenkins Malone, monster, rambled on over to Califonburg in his 1973 Dodge Dart. It wasn\u2019t much of a car, but it had character, with its fine edging of cancerous fender rust along the rear wheel wells, its sun-faded rear dash, and its drooping headliner that sat like a veil atop Jenkins\u2019 foam-front trucker\u2019s cap. Jenkins didn\u2019t care, as monsters usually don\u2019t. He was happy to be swinging into town to catch his buddy JB\u2019s band romping through tunes at the Bluegrass Festival. It was a down home event, where a down home kind of guy like Jenkins feels downright down home, just the way he likes it.<\/p>\n Jenkins strode in with just a touch of monster strut in his step, lifted by cheerful bluegrass sounds, the crisp mandolin notes bouncing along the top of the music, dancing merrily and helping Jenkins to forget the demands of the day, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n There\u2019s JB, Jenkins smiled to himself, Boy can he make that mandolin hop! Sure is one heck of a happy sound!<\/p>\n Jenkins took a seat a few rows from the stage. He nodded hello to JB who gave a nod of acknowledgement back. That\u2019s the way it is with buddies, no grand show of emotion, no elaborateness. A nod says enough.<\/p>\n Jenkins allowed himself to settle into the scene. There was a guy with a cobra tattoo on his calf selling ice cream from a truck to the side of the stage. He had a tendency to ring the bell on the truck after every song he liked. Which was every song, Jenkins noticed with annoyance. There was a chubby kid selling large pretzels off to the other side. A guy with stubbly gray whiskers in dark denim overalls and an old dingy t-shirt sat with his overweight wife, who sat with her breasts in her lap like two forgotten babies swaddled within her blouse. A youngster of about six, chubby like the pretzel kid, was doing an odd head banging belly dance in a moo-moo and flip-flops in front of the stage.<\/p>\n Americana at its finest, mused Jenkins.<\/p>\n After several enjoyable tunes, including a Johnny Cash cover that would do the Man in Black honor, in Jenkins\u2019 opinion, JB\u2019s band wrapped it up. With a wipe of his brow on his forearm, JB pulled up a chair next to Jenkins.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s up, big guy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot much,\u201d Jenkins replied. \u201cThat was some playin\u2019 today, bro. You never fail to get my toes tappin\u2019 and my heart wishin\u2019 I was still playin\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHey, you still got it big guy,\u201d encouraged JB, \u201cYou\u2019ll be playing again. Just give it time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHey, JB, you see that little girl dancing up there?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDoes she look like she\u2019s got Downs or somethin\u2019 to you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGeez! You\u2019re right! Poor thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, man. She\u2019s happy. Look at her. God bless her, man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHey, J, you wanna come over for dinner tonight? Me and the misses are having a couple of the guys in the band over tonight. We\u2019re gonna get Thai food from this place by me. They got this great fake duck tofu dish, man. You wanna join us?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNah, man, I can\u2019t. Too much stuff to do, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlright, man. Maybe next time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYo, JB, what\u2019s up with that girl you guys got singing in the band?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh yeah, man, that\u2019s Alison. She can really sing, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, she\u2019s alright. Kinda stone faced. Don\u2019t you think?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, a little. But she\u2019s cool. Really, J, she\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe does have nice shoes, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShoes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, man. My girl would dig them shoes. Look at \u2018em. They look all paisley or somethin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShoes?\u201d<\/p>\n The next band shambled onto the stage. The steel guitar began to cry and the singer crooned, \u201cTennessee Whiskey\u2026\u201d He was a man of Jenkins\u2019 build with what appeared to be a medium-sized forest animal for a beard and a nest of hair in which such an animal might happily hunker down. He was shifty-eyed, wouldn\u2019t look anyone straight in the eye while he was onstage.<\/p>\n Ah, thought Jenkins, wouldn\u2019t I love to have a pint of that smooth black label Tennessee whiskey right now!<\/p>\n Just then HE came along. Daryl. He turned a chair around and sat facing Jenkins and JB with a big cheesy grin.<\/p>\n \u201cYo, bro! That was some wild playin\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, man. That\u2019s very kind of you,\u201d replied JB.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, man I was trippin\u2019 while you were up there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUh\u2026 and your name is\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh! Sorry, man! I\u2019m Daryl. But the guys I hang with called me Crazy D. You can call me Crazy D if you want to. Hey, can I get your phone number?\u201d<\/p>\n Geez! Who is this kid? Jenkins thought to himself. What a clown!<\/p>\n \u201cAww, Daryl, uh, Crazy D, man, my cell phone\u2019s busted, you know? It went through the wash and then melted in the dryer and then, uh, big Jenkins here stepped on it by accident.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDamn. That\u2019s too bad. Hey, you outta get one of them pre-paid phones, man. There only like 20 bucks at Wal-Mart, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh God, I definitely need some whiskey now, Jenkins continued thinking. Look at this kid with the sleeves cut off of his Bullet for My Valentine t-shirt and his work jacket tied around his waist.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, kid. How old are you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMe?\u201d<\/p>\n No. Your brother, Jenkins\u2019 mind spazzed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m seventeen. Hey, guys, check this out. Check this out. I was at this huge rock concert festival thing last weekend. There were like, I don\u2019t know, fifty bands there! I\u2019m not kidding. It was freakin\u2019 awesome! The mosh pit was sooo cool! I had a blast moshin\u2019, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, man! Look at this bruise on my arm! I got that in the pit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNice, Crazy D. It kinda looks like Kentucky,\u201d said Jenkins with a grin.<\/p>\n JB snorted.<\/p>\n \u201cGuys, we should start a mosh pit right now. We should just like go right up there in front of the stage and just, you know, freakin\u2019 start slammin\u2019 into each other and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, then we can start spooning and making out and crap,\u201d said Jenkins with one of his typical absurdist comments meant to catch the intelligently challenged off guard.<\/p>\n JB snorted again. \u201cAw, don\u2019t mind him, Daryl. He\u2019s just yankin\u2019 your chain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, really. Moshin\u2019 is so much fun. Look at the scratches all over my back from last weekend,\u201d continued Daryl, lifting his shirt. \u201cYou should have seen this one girl. She got punched right in the FACE and she DIED, man. She DIED.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s your idea of fun?\u201d asked JB in disbelief.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I was alright man. I had a lot of fun in the pit there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s because he didn\u2019t get punched in the face and die, JB.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut, those guys in the pit were crazy, man. They kept running into my girl on purpose. I had to take the one guy down, you know what I mean. I had to step up for my lady, you know what I\u2019m sayin\u2019? Those guys were hurtin\u2019 girls, man. They were like a bunch of monsters in that pit, man!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUh, hey, Daryl, watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh man, I\u2019m sorry. I didn\u2019t mean nothin\u2019 by it. I didn\u2019t mean they were really monsters like you\u2019re a monster, man. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s another thing, kid,\u201d said Jenkins straightly. \u201cNobody uses the \u2018M\u2019 word who ain\u2019t a monster. You dig? Only me and my monster bros can use the \u2018M\u2019 word with each other. Then it\u2019s cool. But people like you, you need to refer to us as Monster-Americans. Ok?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUh, yeah, man. I\u2019m sorry. Hey guys, I\u2019ll be back. That\u2019s my girlfriend over there. I think she\u2019s mad at me.\u201d Daryl got up to leave just as suddenly as he first appeared.<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean the one with that little bit of beard on her chin and the army boots?\u201d laughed Jenkins.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that\u2019s her. I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJenkins, man, you\u2019re a hoot! The \u2018M\u2019 word! You really had that kid goin\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHa!\u201d laughed Jenkins. \u201cGood times! Good times! Hey, my friend, I\u2019m headin\u2019 out. I gotta split before \u2018Crazy D\u2019 comes back over here. But maybe you\u2019ll get a little action with him later. He seems to really have a thing for you, man! At least maybe a little spoonin\u2019 behind the stage! Ha!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll text you the details later! Ha!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLater, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love ya, big J.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAw, don\u2019t let Daryl hear ya sayin\u2019 that. You\u2019ll break the poor kid\u2019s heart! See ya.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dodge Dart motored over the mountains toward home, Jenkins humming \u201cTennessee Whiskey\u201d with the windows down.<\/p>\n \u201cI gotta get a pair of them shoes for my girl. She\u2019d like those.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Originally posted on the website Heron Flight) Along about the second weekend in May, Jenkins Malone, monster, rambled on over to Califonburg in his 1973 Dodge Dart. It wasn\u2019t much of a car, but it had character, with its fine edging of cancerous fender rust along the rear wheel wells, its sun-faded rear dash, and … Continue reading “Jenkins Malone, Monster – Episode 1: Jenkins at the Bluegrass Festival”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,86,71,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heron-flight","category-music","category-my-favorites","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7703,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions\/7703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}