Being the Adventures of Jim (in Music City) and his Significant Other, Mary, at the Musical Appearance of the Noted Chanteuse, Suzanne Vega

I was overdressed, and I knew it. I had gotten it into my head that I wanted to dress “New York Cool,” so here I was, in black shirt, black slacks, black shoes; my fiancé Mary was in her favorite Little Black Dress and low heels. Everyone else in line was in jeans and t-shirts, shorts and halter-tops. Except for the guy in dreadlocks and a kilt. (Don’t ask.)

“I shouldn’t have worn pearls,” Mary kept muttering.

“You look gorgeous,” I said, and smiled benignly.

I watched he flags whip atop the hospital two blocks down, but here on the street there wasn’t even a breeze; it was warm and close – it had rained earlier in the day, briefly, but the clouds had begun to thin and the ground was dry. We were standing in front of the Exit-In, one of Nashville’s most famous clubs, so-called because the first entrance was originally a side exit. These days you enter through the front door like every other business on the street; Elliston Place is a funky little drive just off Vanderbilt University’s campus, full of bars and shops and even a meat-and-three soda fountain unchanged since the fifties. During the school year it’s usually rocking on a Saturday night, but this evening it was relatively quiet, except for some country singer’s voice wafting in from the club up the way, and this idiot who kept gunning his jacked-up genitalia-compensating pickup truck back and forth.

We’d gotten there almost an hour before the show was to start, but there was already a line of about 30 people in front of us; by the time we were let in the door, it stretched to the end of the block. (I heard later that the club was somewhat surprised at this development.) After parking on the street, we walked up and got in place at the end, stopping for a moment to chat with the one-and-only Impossibly Young Julie, who is also the Recently Married Julie! She’s been off-list for some time now – though she checks the web page – but I made her promise to shoot me an e-mail.

After about 15 minutes waiting in line, I realized I had left our tickets in my car, so I trudged back to get them. Walking back, I noticed some cowboy-chapeaued folks leaving the country singer’s club. As I strode past, I heard one of the say, as he glanced at the Exit-In’s marquee, “Oh look. Susan Vega. You know, the girl that had that song “Luka” years ago?”

That Luka chick, I thought. But then smiled, thinking that her music had touched even this wannabe cowboy. I almost turned around and invited them up, but thought better of it.

The line got smaller once the door opened; those that had already purchased tickets were put into a separate, shorter line, and we got in to the club quickly (a reluctant thanks to TicketBastard). It had been many years since I had been here, and it wasn’t quite as I had remembered it. The stage had been raised, and instead of being full of seats, there was a mosh pit; a few tables and chairs were in the back, and Mary and I, along with Julie and Joey, took a seat, but it took only a few minutes for us to realize that the area in front of us would quickly fill up. As soon as people began making for the stage, we got up and joined them. I actually took a chair with me, but everyone looked at me like I was crazy, so I took it back thinking I should have brought the table as well.

“Sorry about this,” I said to Mary, looking at her heels and thinking that she would kill me after this was over. “Want some water?” I said brightly. She just gave me “the look”, and then smiled.

As the room crowded up, Julie, Joey, Mary and I talked, mostly about what she & Joey had been doing, and about the Exit-In. Hank, I was in the crowd the night Steve Martin took us to the Krystal! I’ve got one of Buddy Rich’s drumsticks from his appearance there, and I can remember R.E.M., the B-52’s, and quite a few others from that place. It’s a great venue.

The opening act, Kevin Gordon, was tolerable enough. He’s certainly a good guitar player, and his tunes were toe tapping, though he needs to work on his “hooks” a little more.

During the intermission I picked up a beer and began to look around for Phil, the sound guy. He came up on stage, so I leaned over (being close enough to do that) and told him who I was. He told me to meet him at the sound board after the show, so I breathed a sigh of relief to have that taken care of. After polishing off my beer, I strolled over to the trash can to toss the bottle, and when I turned around, a stream of people came out of the backstage door, so I just stood there to watch the obvious “entourage” pass. My mouth fell open when I saw Al Gore walk by, but I wasn’t so shocked that I couldn’t reach out and pat him on the back and say “nice speech, Al,” referring to the stem-winder he unleashed on Dubya for MoveOn.org the other day. He turned his head as he walked and said “thanks.” After they passed, I moved to my position up front and said to my group, “you’ll never guess who I just saw!” The Gores sat in the VIP area upstairs in the back, and I could see Tipper draped over Al. Say what you want about them, at least they seem to have a normal sex life, which you probably couldn’t say about our previous or current POTUS.

Then the show started. I won’t go into a song-by-song recitation of Suzanne’s show, since Bob has done a much better job than I could. A few observations, though. Suzanne & Mike’s connection is almost organic; they seem to anticipate each other’s moves, and are completely comfortable with each other. Mike’s clowning around and Suzanne’s reactions are totally natural, and while I’m sure they do stuff like this every night, I have no doubt that it’s a little bit different every time.

I never realized that “Gypsy” and “In Liverpool” were interconnected – very interesting, especially since “Liverpool” is one of my favorite songs. And I also find it interesting that “Gypsy” evokes the same reaction to someone in the crowd, albeit someone different, every time I’ve seen her perform it. Suzanne knows what I’m talking about.

Mary pointed out to me that the whole time she was performing, Suzanne never looked up at the “luxury box” where the Gores were sitting. She kept all her attention focused on the crowd on the floor. And you know, as many times as she’s performed, she never looked bored – she enjoys herself on stage.

When she started the song “Undertow,” I turned to Julie and said, “That’s OUR song!” Suzanne looked at me just then, and I could have sworn she heard me. It was a goose bump moment.

After the show was over, we said our goodbyes to Julie and Joey, who decided not to hang around, and made for the sound board. While waiting, we became acquainted with the one and only Bob King, who had made the long trip up from Florida. Bob’s a sweetheart of a guy, funny and outgoing, and Mary and I took to him right off; we swapped stories as we waited. I noticed a throng of people on the walkway leading up to the stage door, and I wondered if these were VIPs waiting to see Suzanne, and if we would ever get our turn. I was pleasantly surprised when the stage crew ushered these folks off the ramp, and Phil gestured for us to follow him and he led us past the waiting people.

Let me say at the outset that the Exit-In is an old place, and my first thought was that Suzanne deserved a better green room! At least with a comfortable chair for you! Be that as it may, she sat on a bench, waiting for us. You know, we’re very, very, very lucky, we of the Undertow; all artists either out of desire, or duty, do the “meet ‘n greet” with VIPs, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of any other artist who reaches out to their fans the way Suzanne does. Folks, she’s no different from us; she works long hours, she gets tired just like we do – it’s just that her job is a little more glamorous, and of course, she’s creating art. It says a lot that she gives a little of her time to visit with her fans. She was gracious and friendly to us; we talked about ourselves, we talked about her; I compared notes with her on rearing an obviously intelligent daughter; Bob talked about his trip up from Florida; we all talked about her music, her next CD (which may be a while), her videos (which will be sooner than that), her documentary. While I doubt she gets the same charge out of it that we do, for my part it was an immensely satisfying experience. That her music connects with me emotionally goes without saying, and meant a lot to me to finally be able to tell her how much I appreciated her.

I had stupidly left my camera at home, so I’m hoping that the photo from Bob’s camera turns out. I can’t wait to see it. As we left backstage, we walked out past the crowd that was still waiting for Suzanne; they stared at us like we were someone special. I sure felt that way. I hope the rousing reception she got will convince her to make Nashville a stop on her next new-release tour – whenever that is. Walking outside, Mary said that her feet were sore, but that she had had a good time. I looked up at the sky; the full moon was starting to peek through the clouds – I think it was smiling. I know I was.

---

We do not learn by experience
but by our capacity for experience.
- Buddha

> l Gore? Glad to know! > > Bob wrote: > > I forgot to mention the one negative part of the evening -- midway > through, Katherine Harris and five Supreme Court justices marched in > and demanded that Suzanne stop the concert. > > what the heck! Trying to stop the concert? very unkind. Bob, were you joking or that thing really happened? > > Zoli

Bravo! Great story, Jimmy.

I did notice the throng that came through between performances, but didn't see the Gores, although everyone in their group seemed very pleased.

I also noticed, in retrospect, that Suzanne never seemed to look into the balcony, although maybe to do that would have been the same as announcing, "Hey everybody, there's a former vice president in the house!" Either way, I agree it's nice that she didn't play to the VIP.

My wife did look up into the balcony, but she didn't recognize anybody, which is unusual because she's really good at remembering faces(while I usually just stare ahead blankly and think about how many championships the Celtics would have won in the '80s if it hadn't been for the Lakers). To my credit, however, I did once spot Suzanne on the streets of Claremont, N.H., but I cheated because she was with Glynn and two-thirds of her band, and it didn't take a whole lot of brainpower to know who they were.

We too were at the soundboard for a few minutes after the show, but we didn't have a lot of time to spare and needed to get back to the hotel so we could be up for the drive to Memphis early Sunday. That's a regret, of course, but as I've said, we've been to a handful of Suzanne's shows, and God willing, we'll go to more.

And it's funny how many people these days must only know of Steve Martin as a movie actor, and never saw what he used to do in the 70s. Nice that you got a hamburger off him.

I really enjoyed your recounting of your Saturday night adventures. Nice job.

Hank

> Joking. Sorry, it was a lame attempt at Florida election humor.

-- Bob

Concerning the picture of Al Gore & Suzanne in this thread:

Suzanne looks just FABULOUS! Al looks red-faced and flustered ... I'll bet he's just like us ever-so-human-and-lovable towies who want to say such wise and heartfelt things to our heroine Suzanne, but when we finally meet her face-to-face ... well, just look at Al's face! ... And I'm a lifelong liberal Democrat!

Regards to everyone, and especially COLD thoughts to the sweltering-hot towies in Europe! Hang in there, my thoughts are with you ...

Richard
Washington, DC

Lydia Hutchinson, the editor of The Performing Songwriter Magazine, writes a column in each issue called "A Note From The Editor."

Here's a snippet from Lydia's September/October 2003 note on Suzanne's August 9th Nashville show:

"...I made it out to see Suzanne Vega play here last week with Mike Visceglia, and it was so good - - she's such a wonderfully poetic writer. Al and Tipper Gore even showed up at the club - apparently they're out and about hitting the music scene a lot these days. I knew I loved them! I touched his arm as he walked by and said "Hi there, Al!" And lets see, his exact response was, I think, "Hi." Yep, that was it. So in my head we're now very close..."

cool!
so jim finally got a show in nashville!

and bob was there!
i'm so jealous!

Hey, I never put this on the site, and now I thought of it, so here it is. It's me on the left, Jim on the right, and I think we all know the woman in the center. (Oh, and Jim's fiancee is attached to the arm at the very right. Oops!)

Sorry about the crappy quality, but I just had one of those disposables.