I’ve never been what I’d consider a fan of The Allman Brothers Band. I was only familiar with the name Allman because of Cher. Even now I don’t consider myself a fan of The Allman Brothers Band but they do have a couple of songs that I like and represent something special to me.
In the early spring of 1993, I dressed up like Elwood Blues and too the train back to Vermont to visit my friend Adam. The same Adam from The Academy Days. In the year prior, we had gotten into the habit of writing each other letters. I’m not sure what started it but we’d write each other and included in this writing we started writing this bizarre piece of fiction about a hotdog cart operating dog named Bunger. It was this twisted and barely coherent tale about his problem with the packaging of buns and hotdogs. We eventually called it The Hotdog Equation.
Adam and I spent most of a week travelling around Vermont from Snafu Hollow to South Royalton and beyond. I hadn’t seem him since Aric and I made a quck trip in 1986. While we were travelling he played No One To Run With for me. He said that he felt it described his situation. All of his friends were getting married and settling down or getting to gear on some career path. He felt that he was getting left behind still wanting to do the things we all used to do and there was no one left to run with anymore. It was a poignant moment and the some was good and I understood.
When I got back to Indiana, I had a unusual experience. After a week of hanging out in my old stomping grounds in Vermont with my old Vermont friends, when I woke up that first day back home, it was so disorienting. It seemed like my current life was just a dream. I went out and bought a couple of Allman Brothers Greatest Hits compilations hoping I would find that song Adam played for me. I did but I didn’t really dive to deeply into the Allman Brothers music. In 2012, I would again but for different reasons.
No One Left To Run With