Steve bailed on the SC show that morning.
Otmar bailed over email later that day [he had a Potential Date. :)
So we forgive him. :) ] I'd call Cheryl, who we'd met at the Great
American Music Hall the week before, but got no answer. And then Scott
bailed at the last minute just before I left to head down...
I thought again about the Burning Man ticket I wanted to give to David.
I'd woken up days before, feeling like I should give him one of the tickets
I'd bought [since I get one free with my project.] I felt *so right*
that I should give it to him...
But as I was heading out the door, I almost forgot my purse which has it
in it. I looked and looked for it [I've not been carrying my purse
around much lately] and just couldn't find it, so I said, "well, I guess
it *wasn't* meant to be..." But then I looked at a pillow, and heard
inside myself, 'if the purse is under this pillow, then it was meant to be.
This is the last place you will look.' So I picked up the pillow, and
there was the purse. Question answered!
I'd posted my ticket on some mailing lists, and got a bite from my good friend
Bob, who's a wonderful pyro friend of mine! I aksed him if he could
pack up his glass water bottle trick [called "genie in a bottle"] and we
decided to carpool together.
I wore my el-wire dress that I made -- glowing green wire, in tasteful stripes
across the front. I wanted to dress fun and well for this last concert!
:)
Since there was no Stretch, I couldn't bring Thought, so I brought some tubing
to show the effect. Also, this meant no home cooked meal, so I called
David and said dinner at a restaurant would be better this time. But
I promised a meal for the next tour!
Bob and I headed down together, but since we didn't hear back from David,
we ate together and chatted. Called Dr. J, another good friend in SC,
but he was busy and couldn't make the show either.
So we got there and I shrugged off Scott's ticket. Then I saw Cheryl,
right in the front!! I told her about the ticket, and she marched me
right back and asked the doorman to sell my ticket for me, which he did!
[Good, since I needed the money!] We also talked to Tom, who said we'd
been comped tickets for this show too! But I was happy to pay anyway.
The lady behind us had bought "Home Again" and I told her it was a great
album, and promised her I'd tell her my favorite David Wilcox story later.
I really wanted to tell my story of being there the night of the countrified
version of Eye of the Hurricane! It's a good story and I really wanted
to share it so others felt like they had been there too.
So finally David came out to play! Again, a fantastic concert!
He brought out the sad song again, and couldn't hold up the words, so Bob
held them until they could be draped over the monitor speaker up front.
By this time, I was starting to be able to sing the choruses to some of the
songs I'd heard, now, three times. :) Which was *just like it had been*!
I used to memorize his songs simply by seeing him live. It was very
refreshing to be so obsessive again! :)
During the [new, unpublished] song, that goes something like this:
Story: "We were flying with my son, and he says, 'dad, we're flying!' and
I say, 'blah blah airfoil, blah, goes over the wing faster, which causes
a vacuum, blah blah, which lifts the wing...' And he says, 'but...we're
*flying*!'"
Song: "I turn the radio on, and he smiles. He's sure the radio men
are inside. I show him where the batteries go, and he cries."
Or something like that -- great song! The chorus goes, "heeeeeeere's
to the radio men....inside."
Suddenly, I *get it* about the song. I whisper to Cheryl and then to
Bob -- "does he mean the radio men in the *radio* or in the boy?!"
The song ends, and I can't stand it. There's a reasonable pause to
interject, so I do.
"David? Do you mean the radio men inside the *boy*??"
He laughs! "I love questions like this! You see, the key to good
song writing is ambiguous use of pronouns. So in a well-written song,
the answer is 'both'." :) He then explains a line in Native Tongue,
where he's comparing the little words to God like a candle to the sun, but
then say, "they so small" [or something] and does that refer to candles or
words? :)
I love writing poems, and I *love* this kind of stuff! It's made me
re-think much of his songs since this tour. I'd noticed his use of
alliteration [which I also love a lot], but that's hard to miss since sometimes
he's almost cliche about it. :) [Which I also love. :) ]
I pinpointed what I like about the art that I like. I have a Thing
about obscure art -- it seems so many artists put in all this weird stuff
about their childhood or religion of culture or *whatever* and snub their
nose at you if you don't "get it". I *really* *REALLY* hate that!
I hate art that tries to carry itself on its own obscurity, and looks down
on you if it makes no sense to you.
I realized what I like is art that is immediately understandable, and "good"
to a large majority of people, but has little hidden fun obscurities for
you to find, if you feel like digging a little further. It's not wholly
carried on those obscurities. [This is what I like about The Sandman
comic series, and also why I think the firefall is Good Art, and is minimal
on symbolism...]
In particular, I've been thinking a lot about the song "Moe" that David covers.
If you pick it apart, it is one of the most technically advanced and complicated
poems I've read! [Not that I read many poems, mind you. :) ]
Just all around amazing! And I'm sure this is why David likes it --
apart from that it's simply a good song. And what does the audience
care? It's a good song, and carries itself on that alone.
*That's* good art!
After the concert, I turned around to the woman behind. I wanted to
tell her the story I'd promised her I would, but I got a bad "read" from
her that she didn't really care about the story. Somehow, I *really*
wanted to share my story with *someone*, but could find no groups of people
that drew me in. Nothing felt "right."
Cheryl was wonderful going around trying to get me to talk with David and
show him stuff, but it just didn't seem the "right" timing to do so.
She met with the guy who'd taken her to that first show the week before.
He was there with his sister. I didn't hear what they were talking
about... I was thinking more and more about the gift I wanted to give
David...
After most people had filtered away, I went up to David. I told him
I was called to give him something, and that it would come back to me if
it wasn't meant to be. And I gave him the ticket. He nearly jumped
back from it and laughed! He said, "now, if I want to give this to
someone else, is that in the rules?" I said that was fine.
He asked more about Burning Man and the desert, and it came around to the
fact it was about 100 miles north of Reno. So he asked for directions
out there, since his next gig was in Reno, and they had an extra day to spend.
I gave him all that I knew, and directions to the hot springs as well, and
to the 80 acres. Not sure if he went out there or not, but I sure hope
he did! It's a great time to go out there -- the playa is dry, the
hot springs are warm, and the weather has been great!
He also asked about when Burning Man started, and when he could come out.
I told him I'd be out there from August 17th on, and he could come anytime
-- and earlier is better. I hope he makes it out there!
He jokes about this whole adventure, and says absently that he should write
something up about these three concerts with me -- I joke he should call
it "Kiki +3" but he wasn't there to get it. :) I will have to check
the website and see if anything has come up about it! [I am obviously
a lot more talkative and email-a-tive than he is. :) ]
He was dragged away by the owner and the same woman who had been behind us
and I'd promised the story to. Seems it was her birthday! So
David was taking pictures with her on stage, with the owner. I stayed
back and talked with Tom and Cheryl and Bob. But the Story was rising
in me like a sneeze, and I found myself inching closer to the stage until
I finally walked up and said I wanted to tell her my favorite David Wilcox
story.
So I told the story, but I'm not sure she was all into that. In fact,
at one point she gave a teeny-tiny little frown to me like, "why the hell
are you telling this story during my birthday gathering?" But I couldn't
stop now, so I plunged forward. Obviously, it needed telling to *someone*
there, not sure who. Maybe later she realized about the story, or maybe
someone else needed it, or maybe even *David* needed it. But whatever.
I told it, said I'd wanted her to feel like she'd been there too, and this
was her birthday present from me, and walked back down, and she continued
with cutting the cake and taking pictures.
We decided against pyro playing [which was fine] but Cheryl offered some
of her therapy, which they gladly accepted. So they all went off the
to hotel, and Bob and I left.
He drove to help save my arms, which was good, since I was feeling a tad
bit if tingling from the drive [old computer injury...] and we ended up spending
a good while in his hot tub, which also helped. And we got caught up
as friends too, since it's been a while...
So that's my adventure's conclusion! At least for this time around!