“I Was There When…”If everyone who says they saw former US President Clinton playing saxophone at the Sheraton Addis were actually there when it happened, some say that not even Addis Abeba Stadium would have been large enough to host the event.

Because in case you were to hear people in town claiming to have had the privilege of having been there when former U.S. President Bill Clinton played saxophone at Sunset Bar, an exclusive club in the Sheraton with over 4,000 Br annual membership fee, gossip wants to set the record straight.

It was true that former President Clinton played his signature instrument, the saxophone, at the Sheraton on the night of July 16, when he was visiting Addis only for a day. Gossip even claims that Tefera Gedamu, a host on the “Meet ETV” show, and his camera crew camped out at the Sheraton for almost two days, hoping he would get the honour of meeting Mr. Clinton for an exclusive interview. Despite his relentless effort, his viewers were not offered what could have been an interesting “Hardtalk with Tefera Gedamu”.

Mr. Clinton’s appearance at the Gas Light was not on a prearranged schedule: he just jumped in, according to gossip. But, it is customary for former US presidents to keep their security details discreet, with an advance mission checking on places they are to visit. Gossip disclosed that the secret service came to check the exclusive bar prior to letting their man enter: and they made sure that everybody was out. Perhaps the guys who are telling tall stories on how enjoyable they found Clinton’s sax improvisations were actually made to leave the club at this moment.

Of course, exceptions exist: three people were allowed to stay put and now have the exclusive right of claiming to have been the exclusive spectators to a bar performance by an ex-president of the world’s most powerful nation. Clinton indeed played for half an hour – at least three songs – in the presence of Sheik Al-Amoudi, Jean-Pierre Manigoff, general manager of the Sheraton a.k.a. JP, and Irvin Hicks, Clinton’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia.

And it was a surprise for these gentlemen too, as the former president was not anticipated to play, gossip said. He took the instrument from Getachew Mekuria, Ethiopia’s veteran saxophone player (and without even replacing the mouth-piece); the latter was so excited, he did not know what to do with the instrument when Clinton gave it back to him, said gossip. His partner, Ezera Abate, was there, too.

Now, after everything is said and done, it would be interesting if the Sheraton’s management puts up a photo of the sax playing Clinton, somewhere publicly visible inside the hotel: it could serve as a good memoire of several things, including pathological liars in Addis.