My hands are still shaking… I went to see Pete Yorn do an in-store performance at Vintage Vinyl. I’ve liked him since his debut album came out in 20o1. I went to see him at the Birch Hill, which has since closed down. Of course---any place I like eventually closes or goes out of business. Anyway, my hands were shaking on the drive down to Fords. I could feel my heart beating super fast; it still is. I guess I was a little star struck, one could say. I’ve never met a musician in person before. I’ve met authors and poets before: BJ Ward, Donald Hall, Caroline Cooney, and David LuBar…but this was no comparison!
He played songs from his new album, and a cover of a Warren Zevon song, which I grew to love within 5 seconds of Pete Yorn playing it: "Splendid Isolation."
I want to live alone in the desert
I want to be like Georgia O'Keefe
I want to live on the Upper East Side
And never go down in the street
Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
All while he was playing, I couldn’t take my eyes off of “The Mom.” “Mom” is a label that I give to any woman in her late 30s, who has the “Mom” haircut…usually a short hair-do, something that is so short that you think the woman will never have the ability to grow long hair again. I feel guilty for all of the women who I give the label "Mom" to who, in fact, are not Moms but just women who like low maintenance hair-dos. This Mom was rocking out to Pete, swaying and moving all around; she even made drumming motions with her hands. I just thought she was really cool--- uninhibited. The people around me, including myself, were standing there---we were swaying a little, nodding our heads softfully, but any spectator could tell we were restraining ourselves. I think the wildest I got was when I tapped my feet to the beat of the songs. I strive to be like “The Mom.” After the performance, I got to meet Pete! Still, my hands were shaking. It’s just such an awesome feeling to enjoy someone’s artistic work from a distance, and then actually meet them.
Additionally, today's visit to Vintage Vinyl introduced me to a new artist...Before the in-store performance, a cover of Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon” was playing. Me and another woman inquired about the song..apparently it is from a Grant Lee Phillips album, on which he covers other 80s songs, most of them on the borderline of obscure. I bought the CD and so did the other woman. It reminded me of the scene from Hi Fidelity where Rob plays Beta Band’s “Dry the Rain;” before playing it, he predicts that he will sell several copies of the album…because it is such an addictive song.