Awkward Conversations About Music
Oh yes…that’s right…I have recently had an awkward conversation about music and I am blogging to tell the tale. First, something about me…if you have met me before even if it has been brief, you may have noticed I am fairly passionate and intense (these are what I call the nice adjectives others have used for me…they make my melodramatic behavior about music seem almost tolerable.)
There are people that can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. I don’t have any problems with that per se. What I do have problems with is talking and listening to my favorite songs at the same time without being thrown into some trance like state of heavenly epiphany. Such was the case when talking to a band member of Mittens on Strings at Schubas Tavern on Wednesday night when after a sold out show with Midlake and St. Vincent, I fell into almost a fitful spell of bliss upon hearing the house music broadcast two great songs after another: Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” and my favorite Neil Young song: “Till the Morning Comes.” Of course, what I usually do is apologize profusely and insist that I am not always like this. That’s a blatant lie. I am always like this…I always have an opinion about any music I hear and I’m not the best at keeping it to myself. I’m emphatic to an overabundant degree. I make myself nauseous with enthusiasm half the time. I mean, literally, sometimes I get sick to my stomach with feelings of the ethereal qualities music provides for me.
That’s just a little introduction to help you understand how intense I might come off when I see one of my favorite musicians, Andrew Bird wandering around looking for his house without a home in the prairies of Lakeview Chicago…Schubas Tavern to be exact. What I’m really getting at here is this: Yes, I may have clutched his arm when I spoke.
The conversation went a little like this Wednesday night (this was before either St. Vincent or Midlake had played, mind you.)
Me: I just wanted to tell you how much I loved the new album. stop…gasp (I realized immediately I had acquired this album before it’s actual release date) I mean, I know I’m not supposed to have it yet but I will buy it when it comes out and all of that. (note: anyone who knows me also knows that I definitely support musicians by buying the albums to the point where I’m continually running out of space to store said albums)
Bird: fairly motionless apathetic gesture
Me: Of course, I’ve also been hearing these songs live for the last three years.
Bird: fairly motionless apathetic gesture
Me: I mean, you are one of my favorite musicians of all time. I love your music…I can’t even express…
Bird: fairly motionless apathetic gesture
Me: But you need to play Chicago more often…I mean, I can’t very well just follow you to Paris even though I’d love to.
Bird: fairly motionless apathetic gesture
Me: And not just the too small places for you, either. Like, that Hideout Show sold out before it even went on sale.
Bird: fairly motionless apathetic gesture
Me: You should play places in your own city more often…at least every three months.
Bird: fairly motionless apathetic gesture
I gave up after that. I felt I had sufficiently made an idiot out of myself. Thanks to Gina girl for making me feel better by telling me after I told her what happened that he was probably just not saying much because of my beauty (not so…not so…) and that she’d have asked him to whistle. Gina, you are a true friend.
February 16th, 2007 at 7:57 am
I only met your briefly and can vouch for your music passion.
My roommate spotted one of her musical heroes, Jeremy Enigk, coming out of a Starbucks before a show. While she wasn’t exactly awkward, she said everything wrong. She meant to say something like, “I love your music. It means a lot to me and I’ve been working for months on an animation set to one of your songs,” but it came out something like, “So, Starbucks is pretty lame, huh? And smoking’s going to kill you. Why are you playing so late tonight?”
She still cringes over that.
February 16th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
yeah…it sucks when you have something totally right in your head and it comes out all gobblegook. Or what is worse when you have that meaningful thing to say and you realize they’ve heard it all before and that it’s probably better that you don’t say anything at all.
I’m not sure what I would say to Jeremy Enigk, though. I think I would be alot more composed. I’ve had some great conversations with musicians in the past but it’s always the special ones that seem closed off and isolated…or maybe that’s just a reflection on who I happen to like.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:35 am
fun read
i remember meeting members of one of yer favorite bands (sloan) many times in my younger days. the first time was in a record shop and i remember telling them i loved their sound and had them sign various cards in my wallet. one of the cards was my “gold card” (reward for being a good student) from my high school… i remember chris murphy asking me about it (trying to be funny or dismissive) and being catholic and thinking, ‘that’s some stupid shit you’re talking’ but then just spitting out, ‘yeah, so right. that’s funny.’ and walking away thinking i was an idiot.
years later while doing my radio show sloan were in town that night so i was me doing the interview. i thought cool, it’s chris and jay, this will be fun… nope, they came in and it was horribly boring. then much to my dismay, i was pegged to have them come in on my show again a year or so later!! ugh… again, a can of no fun. it was alright though. they were long past the period i was most fond of anyways.
i’m sure in those days i said a lot of stupid things to a lot of talented and inspiring people. luckily where i live there’s not much chance of random interaction with the stars
February 21st, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Ah Sloan…now I was just thinking Chris Murphy would know how to have a good conversation
....maybe if you were a woman….;)
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:50 am
haha, i thought if i was a teenage woman it would be best. i thought chris would be loads of fun too. but i imagine all them college radio interviews got boring for them.
have you listened to chris and jay’s cbc radio show?? it’s actually not bad. (http://radio3.cbc.ca/)
February 22nd, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Ah maybe I will listen to it this weekend. I love that new Sloan album…was soooooo sad they left out Chicago on their tour (I mean, how could they?
)