Same Time, Next Year

Last night, I managed to make a fool out of myself at karaoke-- and I never even got up on the stage.

After work, I met Cory at our usual hangout, an Italian restaurant/karaoke bar. Odd combination, I know. He was there with a few of his co-workers and a couple folks that work at my station, too. Not long after I got there, Cory was called up to the front to sing. If you don't know Cory, you probably don't know that he has a great voice. And last night, he really knocked one out of the park.
The problem was the song that he sang.

"Alison," by Elvis Costello.

Hearing any Elvis Costello song always makes me think of my old friend Mike, who was quite possibly Elvis' biggest fan. And I mean that literally. It's hard to imagine anyone being more of a fan than Mike was.

Mike had kind of a love/hate relationship with the song "Alison." On the one hand, he used to get so ticked off with people who only knew one Elvis Costello song-- and that song was always "Alison." On the other hand, it's a great song. And for God's sake, Mike named his cat Alison.

So Cory's singing away, and all of these thoughts about Mike are reeling through my head, and it suddenly dawns on me... Mike died two years ago, almost to the very day. And at that point, sitting in the middle of the bar, I started crying. Not big, gasping sobs, thankfully. I don't think many people noticed... and I hope that those people who did notice just figured that I was crying because Cory was doing such a nice job with the song. Then again, I kind of wish someone had asked, so that I could tell them how great Mike was and how much I still miss him.