by Jim McBean
All I remember is arriving at an address just off Dupont Circle in Washington DC. It was raining and I was on time (9:30am). The building was an old brownstone with a small brass sign on the door that said “The Mansion." Jessie Scott was scheduled to meet me there to discuss this weekend’s taping of Jesse Winchester. Honestly, I heard The Addams Family theme running through by head as I cautiously approached the rusty doorbell/intercom.
I pressed the button and a voice instructed me to wait outside. No sign of Jessie as I waited in the rain with my soaking cigarette. This just couldn’t be the place I thought. But this was Jessie’s deal and I’ve learned that what you see on the surface just isn’t the case. For all I knew, I was either about to be hooked-up to car battery and probed in a musty basement. Or...I was going inside to smoke dope with a 3rd world dictator. There could be no “in between." So I waited...
When the door finally opened, there was a kind gentleman who showed me inside to a room he referred to as the “amnesia” room. I had only taken 6 steps inside the door! And I found myself in a room surrounded with wine, stuffed cherubs, guitars, books on selling your business and paper flowers. There was stripped-down music playing. By that I mean familiar music in a very un-produced form. It was Jimi Hendrix trying to figure out how to present the song Foxy Lady. Where in the hell did this come from? The kind gentleman had disappeared just as soon as I sat down. I thought he must have gone to get the car battery and some bare wires.
Then Jessie arrived. Also, in came another person who called herself “H." Just “H.” There was conversation about Jesse Winchester’s rider, and the set-up for the show itself. Then suddenly we were on a tour of the place. It was Huge! It was confusing! Little hallways that twisted and turned, leading into dead ends. A mirror would open and lead to another hallway that lead to a secret bookcase door that lead to a suite complete with living room drenched in opulence and a bathroom with a large teak bathtub. There was a log cabin suite on the 4th floor that you’d swear was really in a log cabin! The John Lennon suite featured walls and ceiling covered with tightly drawn white fabric, and a white bed in the middle of the room. It also had a bath with a hand written note from John Lennon to the laundry staff demanding that the sheets should be kept white – not yellow. He says that his wife Yoko “doesn’t sweat and her skin color will not discolor the sheets!”
Bottom line is this. The place could very well be where Jessie Scott stores her three brains. Two of them haven’t been found for a few years, so the one she is using right now is stretched to say the least. This lady who called herself “H” is pretty damn mysterious too. And how in hell she and Jessie know each other is anyone’s guess. But her and Jessie have gotten together and have chosen Jesse Winchester to enter this space and perform for the Music Fog cameras.
People. This is going to look good on camera. This place is the Hotel California of Washington, DC. The web site for The Mansion assures your privacy when you check in. You no longer exist upon entering. Doesn’t it figure?
-Beans