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Re: dizzing nights and eventful days...




> hey, does anyone else have problems talking to linford and karin?  they 
> intelligence and language skills far outweigh mine, and i'm so afraid to 
> sound like a bumbling idiot around them!  also, what do i do?  run to them 
> and gush about how they're angels and their music touches my life in ways 
> they couldn't imagine?  what could i say that they haven't heard 100 times 
> over?  and so i let them go, and i don't tell karin that she's my idol, and i 
> don't thank them for helping me find some connection with god, and i don't 
> talk to them.
> 
> it feels strange for me to be so chicken.  i don't think i like it very much.
> 
>



Hoo! Totally. The first time I met Linford in person, it was at one of 
the Christmas Rhinelander gatherings of yore. It was the first time I 
saw Jack Henderson with the band. I handed Linford a home-made Christmas 
card. I tried to tell him the story of how I discovered OtR on accident 
(I was given a gift certificate to Coconuts, which is the worst gift 
certificate you can give someone; Cocnuts has *no* selection to speak 
of. I browsed in the store for hours before stumbling on this CD with a 
hairy old man on the front whose title was 'Patience.' I was curious. I 
had a gift certificate. I bought it. And thus plunged into the Apple 
Orchard.)
Halfway through a version of the above story, I realized Linford was 
*bored*! He was looking around every which way but at me, and I think he 
even *sighed.* I realized I was babbling and that he probably got 
bombarded with stuff  like that which I was telling. So I derailed the 
story, said, "thank you," and let the man have some peace.
Ever since then, I try to make it my policy to say "thank you" to the 
celebrity types I meet and leave it at that. I ran into Adam Duritz back 
when Couting Crows were still making good music and, having learned me 
lesson, asked if I could shake his hand. I said "thank you for your 
music. It means a lot to me." He smiled and said "You're welcome" and I 
walked away. Minutes later, I looked back to see Mr. Duritz being mobbed 
by tens of giggly thirysomething ladies and I was glad I'd stuck to my 
policy.

The thing with writers like Linford is that their work comes into the 
most personal parts of my life. For e.g.: My wife and I were having one 
of our biggest fights in our history before our wedding. She was 
scared-- about to commit to spend her entire life with a writer, and 
person with a Master's in English (not a promising breadwinner) and not 
only that, but she had never, ever been with someone of my personality 
type. She was understandably worried. Anyway, we were fighting while 
Good Dog Bad Dog was playing on a stereo somewhere and "Etcetra 
Whatever" came on. My wife heard the birdge ("yes we're gonna be 
alright") and she just lost it. It touched her and it was more 
reassurance than I could hope to give.
There are so many moments like that. Linford andf Karin have made a 
beautiful thing that has permeated my life. I feel like I know them. I 
feel like they *ought* to know me; they have, in a way, been allowed 
into the private and intimate sectors of my life. I feel connected to 
the band, but they, naturally, don't know me from Adam.
I feel like I could run into one of them in a coffee shoop and have a 
fabulous conversation about anything.

- John

np- Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

-- 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The Law goes silent in times of war."
                         -Cicero
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.johnpauldavis.org

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