Just the Highlights

My Thursday through Sunday was filled with music, and while there's no way for me to succinctly recount all that happened, I'm going to do my best to highlight the things that meant the most. Ready? Here we go...

On Thursday, I traveled down to DC to see Trampled By Turtles and Shakey Graves at the Anthem. Concert Husband Phil accompanied, of course. Now, many of you will remember that I made a piece of art inspired by Dave Simonett's first newsletter, Good Record. He writes beautifully---his imagery is utter perfection---and so I created the following piece of art after reading his words:

Notice the red and blue wings? That's because "Red Wing Blue Wing" is my favorite song.

I hung the above artwork at my last show and legitimately could have sold it three times... but I wasn't trying to get this particular piece to anyone other than Dave.

There's a whole long roundabout route to how I ended up where I did, but I'm going to skip to the end so as to not bore you. The gist of the situation is this: I got in touch with Trampled's label, a helpful man by the name of Christian informed me that I should visit the merch table in DC and ask for Carey, leave the artwork with him, and he'd see that the band received the art. So that's what I did... except Carey wasn't at the merch table when I got there and the girls who were selling shirts and hoodies and whatnot said, "We will give it to Carey, but we can't guarantee what will happen to it after that," which of course made me nervous. I mean, that artwork is one of my favorite pieces and the thought of it being lost had me on the brink of tears.

Trampled By Turtles's set was obviously amazing, but through every song, I worried that my artwork was going to be misplaced and end up in the trash. I think I probably would have enjoyed the show more had I visited the merch table after TBT's set... but that's not how it played out.

For Shakey Graves, Phil and I somehow ended up on stage left, on the periphery of the crowd. That's not where we normally stand for a show, but it worked out in my favor because as I was standing with my concert husband and fretting internally about the art, Phil gave me a nudge and said, "Look who's coming." And do you know who it was? Ryan Young, fiddle player extraordinaire! The man is beautifully talented and so incredibly fun to watch on stage.

Ryan was not on stage at that moment, though, and so I walked over to him and said, "Excuse me. I'm Hannah and--"

"Hi Hannah," Ryan said in this very calm and gentle voice. "It's so nice to meet you."

Immediately, I understood that this guy exudes kindness. And this was only reinforced when I explained the art situation and Ryan's reaction was---wait for it---to say, "Would you like to walk over to the merch table together so that you can give the art to me?" So that's what we did. And we talked a little bit about music and the upcoming festival in Hartford, Connecticut, and then he took the canvas bag (there's also a copy of Time Jumps inside) and hooked it over his shoulder and returned to the life of a rockstar. But how kind, right? And how cool!

Phil fortunately thought to take a picture.

Once Ryan had the art, I felt instantly relieved... and then I felt exhausted. There was no time to be tired, though, because I had to drive to New York the next day, meet up with Jody, and then head to Connecticut on Saturday morning for some more Trampled!

This is what happened on Saturday: Jody and I got close to the stage for Trampled By Turtles's set and Jody used her very loud voice that carries well to shout out Ryan's name multiple times. He smiled and waved.

Afterward, while Jody was talking to someone she'd met in the booze line, I noticed Eamonn and Banjo Dave walking amongst the concertgoers... so I approached them and then Jody came over and essentially informed Eamonn that he is now our friend and she wanted to go everywhere with him. (I had to then inform Jody that that's not actually the way these things work.)

Talking to Eamonn was really interesting though. He answered some questions I had about life on the road and told me a little bit about Minnesota. Ultimately, one thing that I would really like to do at some point in my life is sit down with a few musicians and just listen to them talk about their experiences. I want to know all the nitty-gritty details about what it's like to live out of a suitcase while on a tour bus, and what the schedule is for soundchecks and show times and all that, and if all the bands on tour with one another are friends and hang out, and what the musicians do in each city when they're on tour... and how often they stay in a hotel vs. how often they sleep on the bus, and what it's like backstage. Sure, Aaron Barrett of Reel Big Fish fame answered my 53 questions in a ten-page typed letter... but those were questions that a teenage Hannah came up with. Now I'm an adult and I have even more questions!

Anyway. Jody's friend from the booze line thought to take a picture with Eamonn and Banjo Dave, so that's been documented as well:

Somehow, because of a nice woman I was standing beside for Trampled's set, I received my first setlist. The nice woman caught it, but she said it deserved to go to a "true fan," so she gave it to me! Isn't that nice?

That's the conclusion of my week with Trampled By Turtles, but I will add a final paragraph here to just briefly say that Guster put on an amazing show on Sunday and Dispatch completely knocked it out of the park. I swear Dispatch gets better and better every time I see them, and I would be hard pressed to come up with a feeling that is better than the feeling I get when that band takes the stage. There's just something about their stage presence and camaraderie that really gets me, you know? Not to mention their pants... Matt Embree never disappoints with his pants, but Braddigan was killing it with his fashion choices this time as well! Also? I somehow managed to get as close as a person can be and so I had a great vantage point for Dispatch and pants viewing.