The Last Exit

It's April 1979 & I'm sitting in a cold & drafty coffeehouse called The Last Exit in Seattle's University District, not far from the University of Washington's huge red-cobblestoned courtyard.
It's cold, rainy & foggy outside, & drafty inside, where moisture is condensing on the inside of the windows, barely reflected in the pale interior light. I realize I haven't been this cold & wet in a LONG time.
I'm no dummy -- I know it rains a lot in Washington, I went 2 junior-highschool here, & I remembered the way the rain usedta POUR down 4 DAYS. But that was when I was younger & that stuff didn't bother me -- sometimes I'd even go out & wander around in it....
The espresso I'm trying 2 force down is pretty bitter 2 -- not at all what I expected. How can I drink coffee with NO SUGAR?
Up at the front of the room, some Bob Dylan wanna-be is singing as he strums his guitar. I'm not a big Dylan fan but somehow I know that Bob is Safe.
I'm in Seattle with my highschool sweetheart Allison, 2 visit our old college friend Melissa, who has an apartment within walking distance of the UW. Somehow, Al & I have survived me driving a huge old (mid-'60s) boat-sized Chevy stationwagon 600+ miles from Boise, Idaho all across Oregon & then north 2 Seattle. Amazingly, the car didn't break down. & Al & I R still talking 2 each other. In fact, we're closer than we've been in 2 years.
The only mistake we made was relying on the radio 2 help fight the boredom. The Chevy didn't have a tape-player. There Rn't 2 many radio stations in the wilds of Eastern Oregon. & when we came up over a hill just east of Baker, suddenly the radio Al had been trying 2 coax 2 life erupted in what sounded like The Voice Of Ghod: "AND NOW THE ADVENTURES OF GOD'S OWN AGRICULTURALIST, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER...." Somehow we survived that 2....
Melissa's apt is a tiny dorm-style room -- she spends mosta her time at her boyfriend Jim's apt, which is on the 14th floor of a building that towers over the U District. Turns out Jim's a pretty big progressive-rock fan. As we talk, he pulls out old albums by The Nice (ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS, THE THOUGHTS OF EMERLIST DAVJACK, WINTER TO SPRING, THE IMMEDIATE STORY), Manfred Mann's Earth Band (MESSIN', GET YOUR ROCKS OFF, SOLAR FIRE, THE GOOD EARTH, NIGHTINGALES AND BOMBERS), & Roxy Music (COUNTRY LIFE, STRANDED). Some of this he even puts on the stereo, & it sounds pretty good. Most of it I'll never hear again....
His musical intrests go with mine, & we get along OK. After all, I'm the guy who stuffed 30+ albums in2 a box & packed them in the car cos I didn't think I could get thru a week without them. I packed music B4 I packed CLOTHES. I don't think I played more than a couple albums during the entire week we were in Seattle. But somehow I couldn't have managed without Camel's BREATHLESS & Providence's EVER SENSE THE DAWN & Gryphon's RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE & Caravan's FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT.
Turns out the U District is a good neighborhood 4 prog fans -- there's 1/2adozen used record stores in 1 block along University Blvd. -- I walk in2 the 1st 1 & I feel like I've Come Home: There's a huge cut-out stand-up of Soft Machine from their 1st album along the top of 1 record cabinet. There's stuff hanging from the ceiling & weird album covers all around. I think I'm already pretty well-informed musically, & I've got NO IDEA what mosta this stuff is....
1 shop is looking 4 help, so I apply. It's a million-2-1 shot that I'll actually get the job & B able 2 stay in Seattle, but I love the atmosphere of the U District -- not just the used record stores, but the used bookstores & 1 great little cozy Chinese restaurant -- SO MUCH more Xciting & intresting than Boise, where I've lived most of my life up 2 this point....
The record store gives me a Rock trivia test over the phone -- I botch about 1/2 of it. I don't get the job. But tho I'm bummed, at least I've got all this great atmosphere 2 drink up.... I never do get thru that bitter espresso, tho.
Al loves the atmosphere 2, & vows 2 come back -- & she does, less than a year later. I'm supposed 2 follow her there, but instead I get hired by my favorite record store in Boise, & decide 2 stay. The record store job lasts 3 years & 4 awhile I have a place of my own (low-rent as it was). But eventually the job ends badly & I end up unemployed 4 a year & finally join the Air Force.
It takes me 16 years 2 get back 2 Washington & I never go back 2 The Last Exit -- but I know the U District is still there, & I'm told there R still tons of used book & record stores 2 wander thru. I've got 2 get back over there someday....