Midnight in Heidelberg

Danny O' Keefe - 29 February 2008

On Friday night I ventured into the wilds of Eaglemont and, inadvertently, Heidelberg which are suburbs to the north from where I live.

All this was for the Danny O'Keefe house concert. I caught the train to Eaglemont and puffed my way up a steep hill to the house where the event was taking place. It took me a while to find it as it was tucked away out of sight from the road. Luckily it was still daylight, otherwise I doubt if I would have found it at all, not being in the least familiar with the area.

Once inside I eschewed the wine (fortunately, as it turns out) and found myself a good position up the front in the room where Danny O'Keefe was to perform.

The concert was rather good - Danny O'Keefe is an old trouper and an excellent song writer and singer. He has a rather high voice, rather unusual in fact, but it suits his style. He sang about thirty songs in all, many of them unknown to me as I am not all that au fait with his music. I took notes for a review for Nu Country which I have yet to write.

By the time the concert finished it was quite late, and I was wondering how I was going to make it home. Trains were out of question as they have a reputation for being dangerous late at night, so a taxi was my only option. However, taxis were hard to come by in that part of town, but some people who had attended the show and were leaving offered to drive me to the nearest station - Eaglemont - then thought I would have a better chance of finding a taxi at Heidelberg station, so they dropped me off there.

By this time it was about midnight and of course there were no taxis in sight or at the taxi rank. Nor were there any trains running, as when I asked the railway official at the station when the next train would be running, he curtly informed me, 7.00 in the morning. I wandered the deserted streets of Heidelberg for a while looking for a taxi, feeling ridiculous and somewhat desperate. Eventually I made my way back to the station which fortunately had a pay phone. I don't have a mobile phone, so a pay phone was my only option.

It all turned out well in the end. I called a taxi company and booked one. I should have done this as soon as I was dropped at the station. Expecting to wait for a quarter of an hour at least, I was relieved when a taxi showed up shortly afterwards and I was able to get home at last. Hopefully , I'll never find myself in that situation again. I was glad I was sober at the time, with my wits about me, though I was a tad worried all the same.

Anyway, the photo above is one I shot on the night - in black and white for a change.