aunt duff

In the late ’80s/early ’90s, when Mary Chapin Carpenter was riding high with “Passionate Kisses”, and few people outside the industry had even heard of Lucinda, I saw her at The Coyote Club, an ancient, broken down club in Wichita, KS — it was the coolest club in town, but it gave new meaning to the word dive. The stage was more duct tape than carpet, it was easier (and cleaner) to pee outside than in the ladies’ room, and Jimmy Hoffa could have been in there and no one would have known it — the only thing missing was the chicken wire. Since Wichita has less than two dozen literate citizens, there were only 11 of us there, including Art and Janet, the club’s owners. While we were embarrassed for Lucinda’s sake, it was great for us. Lucinda grabbed a chair just like everybody else, we passed out the liquor, and had what amounted to a 4 hour private concert. Lucinda was gracious, enchanting and mesmerizing. She talked to us about each song, joked about how glad she was that MCC was having such a huge hit with “Passionate Kisses” so she was getting decent royalties, and laughed hysterically when I told her my daughter sang “Passionate Fishes” with all the gusto a 3-year old could muster. She spoke modestly and with self-deprecating humor about herself in response to our merciless prodding. Lucinda sang, laughed, drank, and joked with us like we were the old friends we quickly fancied ourselves to be — the entire evening was a give and take between artist and audience. She probably doesn’t even remember that night, but those of us who were there will never forget it; we like to consider ourselves her first fans, the first to appreciate her enormous talent, and very, very lucky to spend such an intimate evening with this warm, gifted, and uniquely talented woman.