Last night we got to hear some of the new stuff that he has been playing and I am looking forward to finding out when a new album is coming. He is playing at least 5 or 6 new songs pretty regularly so a new album must be taking shape. This knowledge though brings me to a realization that I know Joe can sympathize with, the realization that I have possibly entered into "fanboy" territory.
If you have been to visit us recently you know that our guest bedroom serves as the guitar room/Wake Forest room. I have a 5 guitar stand set up with a few more in cases in the room. Last Christmas my Mom gave me a framed poster from a music festival in Winston-Salem called "Music Downtown". The poster is very cool and is hanging above all of the guitar stuff, along with a small 4 x 6 picture of me playing with my band in high school. There is an empty space above the guitar rack between these two items and when I saw the poster for the Downtown Hoedown in Lufkin, TX, which Joe and I also attended in April, I knew it would fit in perfectly with the existing musical decor. However, I forgot about this plan and never got around to putting it in a frame.
While going through luggage recently, I discovered my ticket stub from the Lufkin show, which set my plan into motion. After every show, Robert Earl Keen signs autographs. I have never partaken in this ritual before....until last night that is. The guys in the band actually set up and break down their own gear so I talked with Rich Brotherton, who plays lead guitar, after the Bryan show. Joe tried to take a picture of this but the video card was full and we were too intoxicated to realize it.
Unbeknownst to Julia and Sally, I had two objectives heading into the show last night, which were 1) get Robert Earl Keen and Rich Brotherton to sign the Lufkin ticket stub and 2) find out how old Rich's Epiphone Riviera is.
After the last song, we lingered a bit so I could get the ticket signed. There was a line to meet Robert Earl Keen but Rich was breaking down his stuff on stage and signing stuff for people from there, so I decided to head his way first. When I walked up, there were two highly intoxicated girls talking to him, one of whom was telling him that she was about to divorce her husband and that this show was exactly what she needed. He took it all in stride and tried to carry on some semblance of a normal conversation with them, which was pretty amusing. Eventually I handed him the ticket stub and asked how old the Riviera is. He signed the ticket and said it is actually a 1996 reissue. Objective #2 had been fulfilled and half of #1 as well.
We then made our way through the now shorter line to have Robert Earl Keen sign stuff. Julia waited beside the line but Sally went through it with me. Sally tried to claim that my "man crush" is on Robert Earl Keen, but I corrected her as I think it's actually on Rich Brotherton, as he is the superior musician technically. He's no Josh Howard though Joe..... Anyway, Robert Earl Keen signed the ticket and we made our way out. The ticket stub has now been framed along with the poster. Please note that I managed to break the glass while putting it all together so I will have to get another super cheap frame for it tomorrow, at which point I will hopefully have a picture of it on the wall for my loyal readers.
Just to complete the fanboy extravaganza in one post, I went through recently to figure out how many times I have seen them, as Julia and I discussed it at some point but weren't able to nail down a number. To the best of my knowledge and research, the list is as follows:
10/10/00 - Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, NC (Alan went to this one with me)
06/03/01 - Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, NC
05/03/03 - House of Blues, Chicago, IL
09/02/04 - The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
08/13/05 - Recher Theater, Towson, MD
04/13/06 - The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
11/14/06 - The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
11/14/07 - The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
04/18/08 - Pitser Garrison Civic Center, Lufkin, TX
04/19/08 - Texas Hall of Fame, Bryan, TX
04/20/08 - Toyota Texas Bass Classic, Quitman, TX
11/12/08 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
For dinner tonight, I've got something special cooking, which I will detail tomorrow. Thanks for reading this whole thing if you made it this far.
, you can rest assured that it will be like nothing you have ever seen before. You can already see some of the exciting features, such as the "Chicken and Rice Counter", which will be updated accordingly as I prepare and/or eat this old standard.