October 3, 2009 14:44
by
BlogAdmin
The new song by Chapter 37 got me thinking about college for some reason. Probably the guitar work at the begining - reminicient of Nirvanna. Anyway, I had two and a half botched music opportunities happen within a 2 year time period during my freshman and sophmore years college.
The first was Phish. My suite-mate at UW-Madison kept telling me about this awesome band named Phish. He was way into hooch and listening to this "newer" band. We are talking fall of 1990. The height of political correctness and begining of alternative rock. He was a funny guy. East coast, Boston-type. Very smart. Stuck in a dorm with a bunch of Mid-westerners who thought of Madison as a party school. Oddly enough, most of the east coast crowd had no idea of the Madison reputation. Apparently Madison's reputation on the east coast was much more academic-centric. I digress. We called him Jam. I think his name was James and I think he went on to have a role with the band as a promotor. Jam was serious about Phish and he said he was going to book them for a gig in Madison. I remember thinking to myself, how cool could a band be that Jam could book? Hey, you can book MY band if you want! But Jam didn't like my music. He liked Phish. And I hated it. Everything he played for me made no sense. You think this sounds like the Dead? I love the Dead and Phish can't hold a candle!
Anyway, Jam booked Phish to play in Madison. I went to the concert (mostly because I didn't want to let Jam down). I stood in the front row. I still remember them jumping on the little trampolines during the song "Bouncing 'Round the Room". Classic. I had a good time. Here's the deal. Jam insisted that he was going to introduce us to the band after the show. I was not much for smoking pot, so I ducked out. My other roommate and Jam hung out with Trey and the boys most of the night after the show. I blew it. I could have hung out with one of the best guitarists to hit the scene in the last 25 years! Ugh.
Shortly after that missed opportunity was another blown call. My buddys begged me to join them for a trip to Milwaukee. They were going to see Neil Young at a "quaint" venue. I waffled back and forth and decided against going. BTW, I LOVED Neil Young at the time. I have no idea why I didn't go. Must have been a girl...
Anyway, they came back from this concert and said that Neil was up on stage in front of a crowd in the hundreds (not thousands). He had like 25 guitars all lined up on the stage. He would pace up and down the stage with his hand up to his chin (pondering) and then, out of spontaneous inspiration, select a guitar that prompted a specific song. He had differnt tunings too. In fact, I think he played Cinnamon Girl. Again, I WASN'T THERE, so I am only telling what was told to me! What a blown opportunity.
The last was not a huge deal to me. My roomates my sophmore year loved Bruce Hornsby. They begged me to go to his show when he came to Madison. I said no way. They ended up on stage with him during the show. These guys were beaming when they got back. But even then I didn't care. Still don't.
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