City Life, Part Three: Better Than Sex

Simpatico Moments

When the doors of the Red Line train opened at the Lake Street stop, some of the most awesome, jubilant live music that I’ve heard in a long time greeted the passengers. A man, accompanied by a rhythm track on a boom box, was playing an upbeat swing tune on a clarinet. It sounded like a Woody Herman song.

Our eyes locked through the window. He saw my head bopping and smiling. And then he turned and began playing directly to me. It was one of those rare, simpatico moments between performer and audience member that I as a fellow performer know to be better than sex.

And then the doors closed and the train sped off.