Randy Newman Tolerates Us for a Couple Minutes
A View From the Audience, For a Change
October 10, 2006
No matter who you are or where you are in your life, nothing will make you feel like more of a bumbling dunce than meeting one of your heroes (even when you're semi-kinda "underground famous"). And so it was that we had that wide-eyed five-year-old feeling when we went to see Randy Newman at the Birchmere last Tuesday.
The show was, of course, great. Our admitted bias aside, Newman is arguably one of the greatest living American songwriters, and his songs have only improved with age. But this post isn't really about the show, but afterwards...
There were were, standing outside the stage door after the show, hoping that maybe, just maybe we'd be able to say "hi". We had passed our CD back to him through a helpful bouncer, who gave us a kind but firm "I promise it will get to him" -- the unsaid but implied words being "now get the f*** out". And as we waited hoping to meet Mr. Newman, unlikely scenarios ran through our heads.
You know. His road manager would come out, holding the CD and looking very excited. She'd say "Mr. Newman is very eager to meet you!" We'd enter the dressing room, and he'd be sitting there with a portable keyboard (because of course he plays piano all the time) singing our "Randy Newman's Theme from 'Lord of the Rings'". And oh, how we'd all laugh and laugh and laugh!
"Boy, you fellas sure must understand my music well to have distilled many of its signature elements into a satirical yet respectful parody that, honestly, I wish I'd thought of myself," he'd say.
And we'd say, "Aw, shucks! Most people think you're just 'Short People' and 'Toy Story', but we like 'My Life is Good' and 'Dayton Ohio, 1903' the best." Then we'd sit over beers for an hour and a half talking about songcraft, our families, and the state of the world.
Then he'd be like, "Saaaaay, boys...I'm tiiiired of not having an opening act. Why don't YOU open for me up there at Carnegie Hall tomorrow night?"
And we'd say, "Yeeeeeah...yeeeeah...."
But reality was of course much more...real. The gathering outside the Birchmre included another band, a few longtime fans, and an energetic young aspiring songwriter with a baritone ukulele. Yes; a baritone ukulele. And while Mr. Newman was kind enough to come over to say "hi," we realized that we were just two more dollops of jetsom and flotsom standing between him and a well-earned night's sleep.
It turns out that Mr. Newman and his manager did get the CD we'd sent back to them, and they remembered seeing it on another occasion (we'd sent "Opening Band" to him when it came out.) Even still, it was all we could do to mutter a few words of praise and smile for the camera.
Which, at the end of the day, was plenty enough. Paul headed back up to Philly, Storm scooted his five miles back home, and we both fell asleep with the strains of "In Germany Before the War" in our heads.
Pleasant dreams,
P&S.
A View From the Audience, For a Change
October 10, 2006
No matter who you are or where you are in your life, nothing will make you feel like more of a bumbling dunce than meeting one of your heroes (even when you're semi-kinda "underground famous"). And so it was that we had that wide-eyed five-year-old feeling when we went to see Randy Newman at the Birchmere last Tuesday.
The show was, of course, great. Our admitted bias aside, Newman is arguably one of the greatest living American songwriters, and his songs have only improved with age. But this post isn't really about the show, but afterwards...
There were were, standing outside the stage door after the show, hoping that maybe, just maybe we'd be able to say "hi". We had passed our CD back to him through a helpful bouncer, who gave us a kind but firm "I promise it will get to him" -- the unsaid but implied words being "now get the f*** out". And as we waited hoping to meet Mr. Newman, unlikely scenarios ran through our heads.
You know. His road manager would come out, holding the CD and looking very excited. She'd say "Mr. Newman is very eager to meet you!" We'd enter the dressing room, and he'd be sitting there with a portable keyboard (because of course he plays piano all the time) singing our "Randy Newman's Theme from 'Lord of the Rings'". And oh, how we'd all laugh and laugh and laugh!
"Boy, you fellas sure must understand my music well to have distilled many of its signature elements into a satirical yet respectful parody that, honestly, I wish I'd thought of myself," he'd say.
And we'd say, "Aw, shucks! Most people think you're just 'Short People' and 'Toy Story', but we like 'My Life is Good' and 'Dayton Ohio, 1903' the best." Then we'd sit over beers for an hour and a half talking about songcraft, our families, and the state of the world.Then he'd be like, "Saaaaay, boys...I'm tiiiired of not having an opening act. Why don't YOU open for me up there at Carnegie Hall tomorrow night?"
And we'd say, "Yeeeeeah...yeeeeah...."
But reality was of course much more...real. The gathering outside the Birchmre included another band, a few longtime fans, and an energetic young aspiring songwriter with a baritone ukulele. Yes; a baritone ukulele. And while Mr. Newman was kind enough to come over to say "hi," we realized that we were just two more dollops of jetsom and flotsom standing between him and a well-earned night's sleep.
It turns out that Mr. Newman and his manager did get the CD we'd sent back to them, and they remembered seeing it on another occasion (we'd sent "Opening Band" to him when it came out.) Even still, it was all we could do to mutter a few words of praise and smile for the camera.Which, at the end of the day, was plenty enough. Paul headed back up to Philly, Storm scooted his five miles back home, and we both fell asleep with the strains of "In Germany Before the War" in our heads.
Pleasant dreams,
P&S.
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