Speech at Egeria lighting party
monday, March 17th, 2003
Photo by Catweasel
. David Wilcox is on the left
More of his photos from that night
here
. Catweasel's homepage
here
.
[Note: I did not give this speech, but I should have. I just
got too busy working and running Egeria, that I didn't take the time to
stop and say what I wanted to say. Here is what I wanted to say. It's
important, so please read it! --Kiki, a week later]
The reason we're having this party on a monday is because a dear old friend
-- who I only just recently met -- has a day off from his tour to spend
in San Francisco.
I have been a big, big fan of his all these years, but never talked to
him after a concert. I mean, I'm not going to make a fool of myself!
What would I say?
I have a thing about famous people and other great people I admire.
I don't want to ask for an autograph, because they've already given so much.
I'd rather give them something instead, and have the story to tell.
Last summer, I finally felt I'd come to a place in my life where I had
something to offer to David. I asked him how performers who visit
a city for less than a day ever know the heart of the city? And David
said, 'I don't have any friends in San Francisco.' I just smiled and
said, 'well, now you do!' We spent that evening hanging out
in Otmar's stretch Westfalia van, telling stories like old friends.
It was a magical night!
And a few weeks ago, David called me up, like an old friend, and said he'd
arranged a day off -- today. I didn't want to show him and Tom something
they could see on their own, like Alcatraz or Fisherman's Wharf. I
wanted them to see the Bay Area from the inside. So I showed
them some artists' studios and introduced them to all of you here, Burning
Man folks and artists.
This, right here, is the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area.
And it's true! Look around you now. Just look at the amazing
artists here. Many of you are my heros. Many of you are my inspiration
and my leaders. Many of you have made art that dwarfs even Egeria,
and everything I have ever made or will ever make. That's why San Francisco
is the greatest place on the planet to be an artist. This is what
I have to offer David.
I've started introducing my friends according to their coolness.
'John, I want you to meet Jane. John is cool because of such-and-such.
Jane is cool because she does this-and-so.'
David and Tom, these are my friends. They're cool because they
do stuff like you see around you. My dear, dear friends, this is David
and his manager Tom. David's cool because he writes and sings amazing
folks songs. Tom is cool because he plays base in his own band in Portland.
David's music has flown through me all these -- egads, 18 years?!
His songs are so personal and True that you feel like he's your best friend.
He had been my best friend all these years, and never knew me at all. I
took him and his music with me from the NC woods to here in the industrial
areas of the East Bay. He never knew me. I was a stranger to
him.
The songs he sang mirrored the phases I was going through in my own life.
First, songs about how wonderful life is, then songs of feeling older, and
of being lonely, then songs of getting married, and starting a family.
We grew up together.
And I want to play for you
a recent song of his
-- a song I heard for the first time live at his concert last summer --
that, yet again, mirrors my own life right now.
This party here is for him. I wanted him to know you, the heart of
San Francisco. And I hope with this song, you know him too.
The heart of North Carolina.
