A couple 100 years ago

I lived in Chicago. Many of you know me since then, but I did live there for quite some time. Way before any of you knew me, I hung out with a lot of local musicians. 11th Dream Day, and Friends Of Betty were the two that I spent the most time bothering. The lead singer of FoB and I hung out a lot. He went on and formed a band called Red Red Meat, the last time saw him in Chicago was shortly after the bass player Glynis died. I moved and lost contact.

10 years ago, I was, as I am now, here in Chapel Hill taking care of someone who was ill. That time it was my step-father, this time my mother. I looked at the listings of music going on in town that week and Red Red Meat were playing. I couldn't make it to the show, but I wandered over during the sound check and said hi. His reaction was:

"Oh god don't tell me we're in Iowa, if we're in Iowa we're a LOT earlier in the tour than we should be. What are you doing here? You live in Iowa." We hung out for a bit and chatted. It was great to see him after quite a few years.

So I got here a couple of hours ago. I hit the road at 4:30 this morning to get to Omaha for an early flight. It's been a long day.

So before I come upstairs to collapse, I look at the show listings for the week. Tonight it's Tim's current band Califone.

So once again, I headed out (against my better judgement, I'm exhausted) and wandered in during soundcheck.

It's great to see old friends, even just for a moment, and under such circumstances.