i had a childhood dream come true today. i got to meet nils lofgren (of grin and bruce springsteen and the e street band fame, solo artist, neil young collaborator and staple of the first two ringo starr and the all starr bands).
i was a strange child, but we�ll get into that later.
my better half and i went to see the nils lofgren band at the egg (yes, the egg � see�)
before the show, we went outside to the plaza to have a smoke. as we were headed back in, from about 75 feet away i saw him sitting on the curb, also having a smoke. needless to say, i was the annoying chick that brought the cd jacket and a sharpie just on the off chance i happened to run into him. he was incredibly cool, and spoke to us for a few moments, complaining about credit cards taking away member benefits and talking about the producer of his album, crooked line. i got all flustered, but somehow managed to apologize profusely for bothering him, spelt my name for him, and thanked him up and down before running away like a little school girl. i�m such an unbelievable dork. i should tell you about the time we met jason mewes in jay and silent bob�s secret stash. again, totally and retardedly star struck - for a stoner that acts the same exact way in person, and to think i want to interview musicians for a living (at least if i was getting paid i�d have incentive not to be a full-on idiot).
anyway, nils put on a fantastic show, minus a few mic difficulties. he played several songs i�ve loved for years (shot at you, shine silently, the sun hasn�t set on this boy yet, etc.), and did a cool version of irish angel, a song we�ve also seen jonny lang perform. it was a great night.
back to the strange child bit. i have had crushes on the oddest assortment of people ever.
>
1. jimmy carter. it all started when i was a few months old, back when jimmy carter was president. (maybe it wasn�t so much a crush, but my mother certainly loves telling the story.) she�d occasionally plop me in my baby seat in front of the tv for some visual stimulation (gee, and now i wonder why i can�t be in the house without a tv on�). apparently whenever jimmy carter was on, i would get ecstatic, coo, smile at the television and hold a baby conversation with him. okay, it wasn�t so much a crush, but it is a funny image - baby enamored with president of the u.s. no captain kangaroo for me.
2. carl sagan. i watched cosmos when i was 6 or 7 and thought carl sagan was just the most brilliant man alive, he taught me about space and made me want to be an astronomer (something it took me several years of barely squeaking by in science class to realize was a slightly unreachable goal). i have to admit, we went back and watched the series again last year, and i can still see in him what i saw at 7. i�m a sucker for a science geek.
3. fang of paul revere and the raiders. (he's the second one from the left.) when girls my age were swooning over the new kids on the block, or bon jovi, depending on their preference of hair length, i imagined growing up and marrying phil �fang� volk of the 60�s band paul revere and the raiders. i was a 60s child up until approximately 1994. i grew up listening only to the 60s, by choice, and immersed myself in my mother's old 16 magazines (she still has an impressive beatles memorabilia collection). i never had a crush on the beatles, i knew they were older, i saw pictures and videos to prove it. but somehow that never seemed to cross my mind with the bands i hadn�t seen current pictures of, like the raiders. so, while my girlfriends and i played house with our barbies, theirs would marry jordan knight or ritchie sambora and mine would marry fang. and i wonder why my friends didn�t stick around very long�
4. nils lofgren. (he's the bottom right.) circa 1989 � the first incarnation of the ringo starr and his all starr band tour. nils peforms shine silently. i�m 12ish. i think he is just the bee�s knees and proceed to watch the all starr band video every day for an entire summer just to see him perform that song (obsess much?). he was cute in a very small guitarist kind of way, and dressed in funny shirts, but dammit - i thought he was just the greatest thing ever and i wanted to grow up so i could marry him and he could sing songs to me every day.
needless to say, my wish never came true, but as i grew up, i got his albums and grew to appreciate him as a musician. and in some little way, meeting him today was kind of a dream realized. if you had told me at 12 i would meet him 14 years down the road, i probably would have died of happiness. so, to my 12 year old self�see, dreams can come true.