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Here’s something everybody knows: I’ve always been smitten to the core by Ms. Edie Brickell. It started when she did, with the What I Am video. I’m not sure what it is, I am certainly not one to fall for celebrities. As a matter of fact Edie is the only one (not counting the trumpet player from Gypsy Soul but really that was just a one-time audience crush and besides, she’s not a celebrity…I don’t even know her name). And while I am pretty good at not reading too much into someone’s public persona I can just hear a quality in Edie’s voice that tells me she’s a nice person, and I can read in her lyrics that she is thoughtful and cares about other people.
Don’t worry, I’m not a stalker. But if I was…
And while I had seen Edie once before (doing one or two songs at The Jammy Awards in NYC) Friday the 13th of July, 2007 was my first and so far only time hearing her and her old band the New Bohemians play a proper set. The show was on one of the side stages at Bluesfest and I had been heart-a-flutter since the lineup had been announced. When the day finally came I tried to play it all cool, but inside I was a leashed dog on his way to his favourite hydrant, pulling his owner’s arms halfway out of their sockets.
I tempered my anticipation with ample libations, both before during and after her set, which I had spent in the front row with my googly eyes peeled on Edie’s wide, smiling face and my mouth singing along with every single word. I was like a lesbian at an Ani DiFranco concert, but again, trying to play it all cool.
At the time I was happy to receive an all-access pass to the fest in exchange for daily glowing reviews that the fest posted on some periphery website (one that unfortunately doesn’t exist anymore, otherwise these Bluesfest missives would be much taller on detail) and after Edie’s set I pounded a quick beer or two to kneecap my nerves and found my way to her trailer, where the two of us had a pleasant two-minute conversation, she on the top step of her trailer stairs and me swaying dangerously below. I knew I was drunker than I shoulda been, and she did too, but we were both nice enough about it.
The only thing I can remember us talking about was me name-dropping Bob Wiseman and mentioning how I’d love to one day hear the album that he produced for her that the record company refused to release (by the way, if anyone knows a way, I’d love to one day hear the album that he produced for her that the record company refused to release). I certainly walked away from the encounter fully convinced that Edie is indeed a lovely person who is rather empathetic and caring for her fellow humans. I wish we had become friends though…maybe next time.
Geez, you’d think Paul Simon’s life was already good enough. But noooooo!
I also saw Metric.
Todd Man Out 