Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson

My parents dropped us on the corner.
My mom said have fun and my dad said stay out of trouble, and we walked past two girls in skimpy clothes.
One of us remembered that the tickets were still in the car.
My brother knew our seat numbers and they let us in.
A weird looking dude opened.
We thought he sounded kind of like Elvis Costello.
We had no idea while we waited between shows that we were about to see the best concert we ever would.
Had we known we would have been even more excited and probably a little sad.
We were in high school and loved music more than anything except maybe football.
Over the next forty some years the Boss and Dylan and Richard Thompson and the Mekons and Warren Zevon and some other guys came close but no one ever topped that show.
Maybe it was the dope.
I think it was nineteen-seventy-eight (give or take) and I know my brother bought my ticket and probably wanted to take a girl and settled for me (thank God) and someone in the front row handed Mick Ronson a joint and he sucked it down during Walkin' With A Mountain or All The Way From Memphis and I'm drop dead certain Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson fronted the best rock and roll band in the world for at least one night.
I have proof.
Ask Brown Deer.
He'll tell you the truth.

He will also tell you that if Mott The Hoople ain't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame they ought to burn that pretty little building down and start again.