Funny thing about this Internet, you end up hearing from everybody you’ve ever known.\u00c2\u00a0 Long after the people in your life have faded from three dimensions into two, you see their names in your inbox.\u00c2\u00a0 Like they ambled down the hall and stopped in your dorm room to ask you a question.\u00c2\u00a0 I used to think only the records followed me through this life.\u00c2\u00a0 But I’ve learned the people you listened to them with are still there, waiting to come back to life, to tell you the way it was.\u00c2\u00a0 Stunningly, they haven’t changed, and neither have you.\u00c2\u00a0 And the records, they’re literally the same.<\/p>\n
In the last five days I’ve heard from two friends from college.\u00c2\u00a0 One of whom was hanging in the ether for fifteen years, our relationship having lapsed for that long.\u00c2\u00a0 He read my piece about the Stevie Winwood track somewhere online, he wanted to give me his take on the show at Madison Square Garden.\u00c2\u00a0 He’d traveled down from Boston to see it.\u00c2\u00a0 You see, that’s what we have in common, the music.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what I have in common with you.<\/p>\n
We broke the shrinkwrap and dropped the needle on fragile black records.\u00c2\u00a0 But what came out of the speakers was full-bodied.\u00c2\u00a0 The sound blew into the room and enveloped us.\u00c2\u00a0 We had to go to the show to get closer to these people.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t wear head-set mics, they didn’t dance, they were positively human.\u00c2\u00a0 They displayed anxiety, self-consciousness and bravura.\u00c2\u00a0 We felt if only we could know them, our lives would work.\u00c2\u00a0 Admit it, that’s why you got into this business.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, there was the supposed glamour and financial reward, but you wanted to get closer to the artists, you wanted to know them, you wanted to be there when the spark caught fire.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the reality doesn’t square with the fantasy.\u00c2\u00a0 Most artists are poorly adjusted.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s this square peg in a round hole identity that causes them to lay down their truth.\u00c2\u00a0 About as close as we can get is the tunes themselves, we always go back to the tunes.<\/p>\n
I won’t go hear your unsigned band.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t even want to go if you’ve got a deal and\/or traction if I’ve never heard of you.\u00c2\u00a0 Because without knowing the music, I can’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 All I hear is a cacophony of sound.\u00c2\u00a0 And I debate whether I can slip out the side door, or if there’s no escape, how I’m going to tell you what you’ve invested in doesn’t float my boat.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why I stay home, it’s just too difficult.<\/p>\n
But every once in a while, you’re astounded by the opening act.\u00c2\u00a0 By the act no one hyped you on, that you didn’t come to see.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what happened when Jackson Browne opened for Laura Nyro at the Fillmore East.\u00c2\u00a0 The audience didn’t whisper, there was no din, everybody paid attention to the slight fellow on stage playing the acoustic guitar.\u00c2\u00a0 Telling stories that you could catch the first time through.<\/p>\n
Over a year later, Jackson’s first album was released.\u00c2\u00a0 The jaunty "Doctor My Eyes" eventually got airplay.\u00c2\u00a0 "Jamaica Say You Will", "Under The Falling Sky", "Rock Me On The Water" and "My Opening Farewell" got major covers.\u00c2\u00a0 But the track that stuck with me was Jackson’s alone.\u00c2\u00a0 Listening to "Something Fine" open side two was like coming back from the bathroom and finding your date sitting on your bed, slowly telling you her life story.\u00c2\u00a0 Wistfully.\u00c2\u00a0 About her little victories and larger slights.<\/p>\n
There’s an intimacy in records that’s absent from movies.\u00c2\u00a0 A record can get up close to you like no other entertainment medium.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s it’s power…\u00c2\u00a0 If you choose to exercise it.<\/p>\n
It’s hard not to bang the listener over the head.\u00c2\u00a0 Urge the audience to pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 But if somehow you can get someone to buy your record and play it alone, you’ve got a chance to reach them.\u00c2\u00a0 Via your sheer honesty.<\/p>\n
I was planning on a late night hike in the mountains.\u00c2\u00a0 I still might make it.\u00c2\u00a0 But, before I got up to do my back exercises, I decided to rip Jackson Browne’s new album, "Solo Acoustic Vol. 2", so I could listen to it on my iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 Waiting for the CD to transfer, I started entering the titles, the album being too new for them to come down automatically, and when I got to "Something Fine", I decided to play it.<\/p>\n
And then I couldn’t move.<\/p>\n