There is no freedom in a life without music.

Last night I had one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in a really really long time. I was asked to help drive Chris Tomlin and his band around while they were in town for the concert. I was going to the concert anyway, so I figured why not. I’d get in free to the fair and probably at least get to meet the guys. To be honest, it actually made me really nervous though. I could care less about meeting famous people. I mean, they’re just people. But when it comes to meeting someone who I have an incredible amount of respect for, I have a hard time finding the words to even try to carry on any sort of conversation with them. The fact that this was someone I respected on both a spiritual and a musical level made it that much worse. Anyway, I had to go pick them up after they ate dinner and bring them back to the fairgrounds. I was listening to- what else- Nickel Creek live. They got in the car and the first thing Chris says is “nice music choice.” And I said- “Oh, you’re a Nickel Creek fan?” and he said definitely. So Jesse (the bass player) was in the front seat and he immediately pulls out my CD’s to “see what kind of a person I was”. I laughed b/c that’s usually what I do to people. Anyway, it was as usual a strange arrangement ranging from NC live (a lot of that), to Damien Rice, to Passion, to Allison Krauss to U2. Anyway, apparently it was passable, he said I was an ok person and that my music taste was good. And I started telling him about the NC concert I just went to with Glen and he looked all surprised that A. I knew Glen Phillips and B. that I got to see him in concert (including the reunion Toad show). Then he stopped me so that he could repeat it to Daniel in the backseat, who then starts talking about Windmills which is my favorite Glen & NC song together- so I Have to pull out the MAS CD that they didn’t know about it and put it in, and as soon as I start that Chris is asking if I have Lighthouse with Coldplay’s yellow, and I said sure- I’ll play it as soon as this is over. So then for the longest time no one really talked b/c the music was up so loud. Then Chris asked if I had when you come back down, which I didn’t think I had-and we were almost there, so I didn’t try looking for it- and he starts singing it in the backseat, and I’m thinking- ARE YOU KIDDING ME? CHRIS TOMLIN IS SINGING NICKEL CREEK IN THE CAR WITH ME. Which to those of you reading this- you may think, oh who cares, but to have one of my absolute favorite musicians start singing one of my absolute favorite bands songs- was a bit surreal for me. So then Daniel pipes up that we’ve got to trade addresses so that we can send each other music- again, are you kidding me? Someone offering to send me Toad stuff I don’t have and B-side Coldplay stuff and rarity Damien Rice stuff… Insane. So anyway, it was a lot of fun, and they seemed really surprised that I knew what I knew about music and the bands I listened to and everything. One of them even piped up that I had really good taste in real music. (and it’s hard to pay me a higher compliment than that.) anyway, got them there and dropped them off then watched the set- which was great. I’m really looking forward to their new CD (9.21.04). After the concert I went back behind the stage and Jesse just immediately picks up where we left off. Went so far as to write the titles down of a couple of albums that I absolutely HAD to have. Then Daniel comes around asking if we’d exchanged info yet and proceeds to write out his address and email for me and takes mine so that we can trade music. We start to head out and Jesse asks if I’m driving, and I said- I can, (everyone could fit in the van). And he asks if he could copy my MAS CD to his computer till he could buy a copy, and that was fine with me so he and Daniel both follow me to the car and we proceed to talk movies and music and books all the way back. It’s so nice to meet people with such similar tastes- especially since, I’ll be honest, my taste in music is typically a little out of the norm. The fact that they’re musicians that I listen to on a regular basis makes it that much better. When we got to the hotel, Daniel tried to copy me a couple of disks, but unfortunately his music was all on the hard drive at home b/c he couldn’t run pro-tools on the laptop b/c it so bogged down. He tried to pull them off his I-Pod, but we couldn’t get that to work either and it was after midnight, so we gave up when his computer died. I’m looking forward to hearing the stuff he sends though. As I was looking through his music on his computer- he had all sorts of bands, that I love and own CD’s by so it was entertaining to look at, it was that sort of- oh I love this, and this and this… it was great. I love to make new friends with the same music taste as me. It’s rare, which makes it that much better when it happens.

The quote at the top of the blog is actually the words that are written on the back of Chris Tomlin’s jacket that he wore last night. I told him after the show that I absolutely loved it and wanted to know where he got it. He just smiled and said something to the extent of how it is something that I would like. And I realized that on a strange level he- and the rest of his guys, understood me. As absolutely ridiculous as that sounds- that’s the way I felt, and I know the way he meant it. As a sidenote- he got the jacket in Soho in NY, I wrote down the store name and I’m absolutely checking it out when I’m in town. You may very well see me wearing that same jacket- in late October following my trip to New York.

So the moral of this story is I made friends with Chris Tomlin and his band last night and they were really cool.