Something I've been looking forward to for a while, was that Brittany got us tickets to see Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band at the 9:30 Club. So this happened last night.
There is exactly one thing in my life that I'm totally, hopelessly fan girl about. (All right, fine, that's not entirely true, but the all of the other things that get me giddy excited are stuff like champion trees, and charismatic geomorphology, and soil surveys.) I've been listening to Josh Ritter since the end of college, and went to my first show just about three years ago. This was my sixth time seeing Josh Ritter, fourth time backed by the full band. These shows are just awesome. Josh is a great performer, witty and gracious and always so positive. The whole band is brilliantly talented, and always look like they're having such a good time.
In addition to being an all around beautiful person, Brittany has this uncanny ability to actually meet and speak with all of her favorite musicians-- Hanson, Rhett Miller, Ben Kweller, Joe Pug. So not only do I get to have a blast at a great show with this girl I adore, but I also have someone encouraging me to find and actually speak with Josh and company.
The show was awesome, as I expected. After, Britt and I waited for the crowd to clear out a little, scored a couple of Josh Ritter's guitar picks from the stage crew, and went to wait by the tour bus that we noticed parked on the side street when we walked in earlier. And after about an hour of standing around being giddy and ridiculous, we watched as Zack Hickman and Sam Kassirer (bass and keys, respectively) walked by, slightly aloof, trying to see what was going on around them but avoiding eye contact as they hurried on the bus. But then, there was Austin Nevins (guitar among other things).
He walked around the corner with a bag in his right hand, and shifted it to his left hand. Brittany's eyes lit up-- she took this as a sign! He must want to shake our hands! And he did. Austin stopped and talked with us for a while. Trying my best to not be totally anxious and awkward, and trying to keep the conversation going, I asked where were his favorite places he's played. I quickly realized in my head that I was asking that question looking for answers about places and travel, but kind of hoped he took it as a question about venues, because I didn't want to get all hyped up about geography and be even more anxious/ weird/ awkward. But he answered: Japan. Cuba. Europe.
Europe?! Europe is not just one country. And of course, I had to open my mouth and say something about that. And then rant on about people constantly referring to Africa like it's one country.
And just as Austin exclaimed with a smile, "Are you giving me shit about geography?!", Brittany laughs at me, "Less than five minutes before we're talking about geography!". Oh no. I am so weird. My stomach hurt. My brain was short circuiting at this point. Well, that's not entirely true. My brain was short circuiting the. entire. time.
So just as this is going down... Josh Ritter walks around the corner. We want to keep talking with Austin because he was really cool, but we also didn't want to miss this opportunity. Brittany and this other guy who was hanging out with us kept talking with Austin and-- something about being around Brittany made me really, really brave-- I reached out my hand as he walked past, and rambled nervously, "Wait, can I thank you? Can I thank you for your music?"
(Amazingly, this is a significant improvement in communication compared to the first time I saw him in concert, and ran into him on the stairs after the show, literally ran into him, and just kind of smiled idiotically and stood there in the way.)
And he stopped. And kind of paused. And shook my hand. And thanked me back.
Thank goodness for my wonderful, amazing friend Brittany. While I was being dumbfounded, she asked if she could get a picture. Josh put his arm around me and we got the other guy hanging out by the bus to get a photo of us with Austin, too. And this was all just happening, really happening.
I was really disappointed to lose Austin in the shuffle, because he was so kind to just stop and chat with us a while. But Josh was also kind, and just as gracious and joyful as I hoped he'd be in real life. Like, these are real people, who are really excited about what they do, and excited to talk about it with other excited people, despite how nervous/ anxious/ ridiculous/ etc. they were trying desperately not to be.
By "they" I mean me.
So awesome. So, so awesome.
There is exactly one thing in my life that I'm totally, hopelessly fan girl about. (All right, fine, that's not entirely true, but the all of the other things that get me giddy excited are stuff like champion trees, and charismatic geomorphology, and soil surveys.) I've been listening to Josh Ritter since the end of college, and went to my first show just about three years ago. This was my sixth time seeing Josh Ritter, fourth time backed by the full band. These shows are just awesome. Josh is a great performer, witty and gracious and always so positive. The whole band is brilliantly talented, and always look like they're having such a good time.
In addition to being an all around beautiful person, Brittany has this uncanny ability to actually meet and speak with all of her favorite musicians-- Hanson, Rhett Miller, Ben Kweller, Joe Pug. So not only do I get to have a blast at a great show with this girl I adore, but I also have someone encouraging me to find and actually speak with Josh and company.
The show was awesome, as I expected. After, Britt and I waited for the crowd to clear out a little, scored a couple of Josh Ritter's guitar picks from the stage crew, and went to wait by the tour bus that we noticed parked on the side street when we walked in earlier. And after about an hour of standing around being giddy and ridiculous, we watched as Zack Hickman and Sam Kassirer (bass and keys, respectively) walked by, slightly aloof, trying to see what was going on around them but avoiding eye contact as they hurried on the bus. But then, there was Austin Nevins (guitar among other things).
He walked around the corner with a bag in his right hand, and shifted it to his left hand. Brittany's eyes lit up-- she took this as a sign! He must want to shake our hands! And he did. Austin stopped and talked with us for a while. Trying my best to not be totally anxious and awkward, and trying to keep the conversation going, I asked where were his favorite places he's played. I quickly realized in my head that I was asking that question looking for answers about places and travel, but kind of hoped he took it as a question about venues, because I didn't want to get all hyped up about geography and be even more anxious/ weird/ awkward. But he answered: Japan. Cuba. Europe.
Europe?! Europe is not just one country. And of course, I had to open my mouth and say something about that. And then rant on about people constantly referring to Africa like it's one country.
And just as Austin exclaimed with a smile, "Are you giving me shit about geography?!", Brittany laughs at me, "Less than five minutes before we're talking about geography!". Oh no. I am so weird. My stomach hurt. My brain was short circuiting at this point. Well, that's not entirely true. My brain was short circuiting the. entire. time.
So just as this is going down... Josh Ritter walks around the corner. We want to keep talking with Austin because he was really cool, but we also didn't want to miss this opportunity. Brittany and this other guy who was hanging out with us kept talking with Austin and-- something about being around Brittany made me really, really brave-- I reached out my hand as he walked past, and rambled nervously, "Wait, can I thank you? Can I thank you for your music?"
(Amazingly, this is a significant improvement in communication compared to the first time I saw him in concert, and ran into him on the stairs after the show, literally ran into him, and just kind of smiled idiotically and stood there in the way.)
And he stopped. And kind of paused. And shook my hand. And thanked me back.
Thank goodness for my wonderful, amazing friend Brittany. While I was being dumbfounded, she asked if she could get a picture. Josh put his arm around me and we got the other guy hanging out by the bus to get a photo of us with Austin, too. And this was all just happening, really happening.
I was really disappointed to lose Austin in the shuffle, because he was so kind to just stop and chat with us a while. But Josh was also kind, and just as gracious and joyful as I hoped he'd be in real life. Like, these are real people, who are really excited about what they do, and excited to talk about it with other excited people, despite how nervous/ anxious/ ridiculous/ etc. they were trying desperately not to be.
By "they" I mean me.
So awesome. So, so awesome.
You are so genuine. I love that about you.
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