STREET TREATS

Lolita: Did I ever tell you about the time I went down to Connecticut—this is when I used to smoke—I didn’t want to carry a purse so I just shoved my money into my cigarette pack. It was only one bill—a crisp new $100 bill. Throughout the whole night at this little pub a cool looking guy was plying me with drinks. I didn’t pay for a single stiff one the whole night and at the end when he convinced me to follow him, I sucked off my last Marlboro Light and dropped the empty pack on the street. Sometimes I can be such a jerk. Rita: Litterbug. How ’bout we turn your situation around and ask everyone, what’s the best thing they ever found on the street? Lolita: Is that a trick question. Rita: No, it’s a street treat question. There’s Adam, go find out about his best street treat ever.  ADAM PAYNE (2ADAM12): I used to live in Orlando, and one day while walking around in Downtown Disney, I found a really sharp looking watch lying on the ground. I picked it up, and turned it in to the lost and found.  They took my name and contact info, and said that if no one claimed it, it would be mine.  About seven weeks later, I got a call from the lost and found.  Nobody claimed the watch so I went and picked it up.  Long story short, the watch was very valuable, so I sold it, and it ended up pretty much paying for my first semester of grad school in North Carolina the following year.  I called it the Disney watch scholarship! *** ERIK LINDGREN (Birdsongs of the Mesozoic/Arf Arf Records): In 1978, I miraculously found a small Fender tweed amp from the ’50s sitting on the top of a big garbage heap on Ashford Street in Allston. The speaker and grill cloth were destroyed but I repaired them, put in a new fuse, and it still works like a charm. It’s the ultimate amp for recording electrified harmonica. *** CHUCK U. ROSINA (WMBR/ WMFO): One day a couple of years ago, I was peddling down Mass. Ave. in Cambridge, and rolled over a folded up green bill.  I recognized it as money, so I stopped to pick it up. It was $100!  Wow!  I took my wife out to dinner with it. Lolita: I dropped my $100 in Connecticut—do you think it could have blown up to Cambridge? *** JOE COUGHLIN (the Noise): (a) A big red metal sign (a foot tall by four feet across) that says “Long Gone Records,” (b) a big plastic Lowenbrau sign with a picture of a big roast beef, which still lights up, and (c) twenty bucks, which I actually spotted from a moving car at night. Jesus loves me. *** PETE WEISS (Weisstronauts/ Sool): A few years ago I was walking to Zippah Studio from home, running late for a session, feeling stressed and rushed.  About a block from my house I saw a woman loading a lot of “stuff” onto the curb, presumably for trash pickup.  From a distance I saw her put some drums out and thought well, they’re probably crappy student drums, but maybe I should take a look.  It turned out to be a pair of ’60s Slingerland toms (huge floor and rack) and—unbelievably—a ’40s-era Radio King snare in beautiful condition.  I asked the woman if she was tossing these. She said, “Please, take whatever you want.  I’m only here for 24 hours settling my parents’ estate; I’ve gotta clear all the junk out of the house before the closing and then fly back to California...” Okay, good enough for me.  One of the most sought-after and sweet-sounding snare drums for free...  I was pretty late for the session though. *** MR. CURT (Mr. Curt Ensemble/ Urban Caravan): One day I was driving my school bus, sitting at a traffic light, when I looked out and saw a shiny piece of crushed metal on the street—perhaps a piece of muffler—perfectly flattened! Absolutely captivated, I jumped out of that bus and snatched it away. My kids thought I was kooky, but they at least accepted it. So when it ended up as the cover art to The EXI’s third album, they decided to be impressed. The eye of the beholder—nothing like it! *** PETE CASSANI (the Peasants/Beefy DC): Another lonely solo tour. Bridgeport, CT. Depressing town. Depressing non-gig—an open mic at the Acoustic Cafe. My hip is killing me. Surgery looms in the future—me and Eddie Van Halen... and Paul Stanley. Anyway I’m walking down the street. Kinda hungry. Trying not to feel as rotten as I do. See a pack of Marlboro Lights on the ground. I don’t smoke anymore but I pick them up. Box is empty but shoved inside the cellophane is a crisp one hundred dollar bill! I keep walking casually glancing around! I can’t believe it! There’s nobody else on the street. I step into a nearby pub. Dinnertime! Lolita: THAT WAS MINE!! I was in Bridgeport! Pete, you owe me big time. Rita: Calm down Lolita. You know the old saying—finders keepers, losers weepers. Lolita: Screw that—I’m gonna go kick Pete in the hip until he gives me my $100 back!!