Is there some customer at the club where you play or some "fan" who has followed your act or someone at a party you played who left a memory etched in you mind? Maybe that person made you laugh or shocked you or inspired you or released the Mr. Hyde in you!

Use this thread to post stories about the people who "put a face" on the crowd.
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In 1989, I met a man named Nat Marx in the club where I worked. Turned out he is the first cousin-once-removed (meaning his dad was first cousin) to the Marx Brothers. We became great and loving friends. He celebrated his 94th birthday at my club last Saturday night. Lots of club attendees know Nat and his wife of 72 years, Natalie, and joined me in the tribute to him for all the joy and laughter he's brought into the place for the last ten years.

When the night ended, Nat and Natalie were the last customers to leave the place. As we hugged and kissed each other, he said to my wife (who manages the place) and me, "Well, we're closing the joint again! Natalie and I used to close the joint where Paul Whiteman's Orchestra played in New York, and the place where Benny Goodman played. Now we're closing Jim Henry's!" I was speechless. Here was this happy, witty, slightly drunk 94-year-old man who, with his wife, had reveled in the bygone days from which we only play "oldtime music"! He's the closest thing to a walking, breathing time capsule I've ever known.

When I grow old (maybe next week) I want to be like Nat Mark--I want the focus of my life to be outside myself; to simply immerse myself in the pleasures and people who surround me at every moment, just as he does.

That's my story. Would you add one?

Jim Henry