Originally Published: January 30, 2007
On Sunday night I ventured down to The Horse You Came In On, a Baltimore institution on Thames Street in Fells Point. It could be argued that The Horse has helped to put some of its patrons into institutions but that’s another topic for another day.
Rob Fahey was the Sunday evening entertainer as he has been for a very long time. Those who have seen Fahey play are often left pondering a lyric from a Billy Joel song: “They sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say man what are you doing here?”
Some things in life aren’t fair.
Timing as they say is everything and the timing for Fahey, must not have been right, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the privilege of listening to his talents on a lazy Sunday evening one week prior to the Super Bowl in a dingy little dive bar with a vast amount of charm.
Fahey as always played and sung his heart out. His music envelopes you, it reaches inside and comforts you. It’s like a warm smile that makes you forget about the troubling distractions that are at times part of all our agendas.
Each song is greeted with an applause that falls short of the performance, yet Fahey manages a smile exposing a boyish charm that cuts through the years of experience evident in his appearance. He is pleasantly humble, immediately approachable and willing to do his part to make your evening a bit happier than it was before your ventured through the swinging doors of this historic saloon — a saloon that could soon be changed forever.
New owners recently bought The Horse from long-time owner Howard Gerber and what the new owners have in store is shrouded in mystery.
Fahey who has been a Sunday night staple isn’t sure. In between songs, he talked about the saloon’s uncertainty yet reflected enthusiastically upon his personal happy moments atop the rickety hardwood floors of The Horse.
His reminiscing sent me on a little mental sojourn of my own. I thought of all the friends I’ve made at The Horse; the out of town visitors with whom I bonded as though we were lost brothers; and the music. The incredibly talented who somehow took the wrong career fork in the road yet happy playing the part of “Piano Man.”
I am fortunate to have experienced The Horse.
My dear friend Tony Sciuto who like Fahey is a marvel to watch, once told me that music is “like a bookmark in time.”
How true is that? How many times have you heard a song that takes you to another time and place or reminds you of someone that was once close but is now somewhat distant, separated by space, time and the rapid fire demands of today’s society?
Yet for a moment or four the bookmark brings your memory into the present. It’s the equivalent of Googling a happy time and bringing it to the forefront of your mind.
There is solace in that bookmark.
It feels like home.
Yet those musicians who have helped to create those friendly bookmarks may no longer have a home at The Horse and if they do, it might no longer be called The Horse. In a flash it dawned on me, the perfect request befitting the moment.
“Rob, do you know A Horse With No Name?”, I asked.
Fahey immediately latched on to the relevance of that song and soon thereafter, went right into the tune’s opening chords.
As he played, my thoughts drifted again only this time to horses from a different stable — the Baltimore Colts.
This week as the Super Bowl hype reaches feverish levels, I’m sure we will hear that this is the Colts’ third trip to the Super Bowl and upon hearing that, many here will be offended and with good reason.
Much has happened since those Mayflower vans exited Baltimore, carrying with them Baltimore’s football heritage. And while many Baltimoreans have come to accept that the prideful horseshoe will never grace the helmets of their hometown team, the city can’t nor should it accept the humiliating disregard of its NFL heritage, particularly in light of the fact that it is one of the league’s pioneering cities and arguably its defining city.
Hall of Fame players like Art Donovan, Raymond Berry, Gino Marchetti, Jim Parker and of course Johnny Unitas do not and in the cases of the late Parker and Unitas, did not associate themselves with the city of Indianapolis. Why would they? They were and always will be Baltimore Colts.
Today in the Hall of Fame they are a collective horse with no name.
All who played for the Baltimore Colts have had their records absorbed into those of the Indianapolis franchise. When a Baltimorean visits the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, they don’t see their heroes records recognized as part of the city in which they were established. Their NFL heritage has been stolen just like their team.
That hardly seems fair to a city that for all intents and purposes built the foundation upon which the NFL and that building in Canton, OH stand.
The Baltimore Colts will never play another NFL game but at least their memory should remain alive and young fans and future fans deserve to understand the historical significance and relevance of Baltimore in the league’s remarkable history.
Let the careers of those Hall of Fame Baltimore Colts rest in their proper place. Restore all of the Baltimore Colts “bookmarks” so that all former Baltimore Colts can be acknowledged and not treated as outcasts or the black sheep of the NFL family.
Fahey continued playing and as I reacquainted myself with my surroundings, I heard him sing:
I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
it felt good to be out of the rain
in the desert you can remember your name
’cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La, la, la, la-la, la-la, la…
Time doesn’t stand still, it moves ahead and sometimes it leaves things behind. That’s where music comes in handy reminding us of those bookmarks.
There will always be those bookmarks.
But that aside, The Horse You Came In On and The Baltimore Colts, both Baltimore to the core, deserve better than to be disgraced as horses without names.
NOTE: Since this article was first published and much to our delight, new owner Eric Mathias has not only maintained The Horse, he has delved into its rich history (which includes ties to Edgar Allen Poe) dusted it off and brought it to the forefront of Baltimore’s collective mind while enhancing the visitor experience to unprecedented levels. Thank you Eric!
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