Today's sacrifice was lunch at the sportsbar With the boss. The only game I wanted to see This noontime was the singing hoping humming Up there on a low and splintered dias, With a beat-up amp and a dream still kicking But maybe not so hard as yesterday When it was bared for the same semi-empty faces Looking for something more Than a drink and a song and pulled pork. Robert's Western World, The Stage, and Tootsie's Orchid (with two stages), Bill and Layla's Bluegrass Cafe-- I walked by twice But I won't tonight, Every doorway a tempting darkened den Taunting me with broken bars of song Passing fast in the heat. One beer into the day and wishing to remain Here on Broadway, where it happens, I trudge up the hill. They're paying me to stay inside today But that slide guitar honey is Still dripping in my ears And no matter how many power point slides I see, They ain't the same; None of them bite like that slow D minor did When I rounded the corner up 4th And cursed my own diligence.