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Entry 4 - Celebrate We Will VOTE
"Celebrate we will, 'cause life is short but sweet for
certain" I could hear
the chorus of one of my favorite song blasting through the fence
that
separated me from my obsession. I was sitting outside the Amsouth
Amphitheater in Nashville Tennessee, tickets in hand, hoping to at
least,
get a glimpse of my favorite band and at most, get to meet them
and obtain
autographs, particularly LeRoi Moore. "Thank Y'all for coming
out tonight,
hope to see everyone next year" Ah the sound of the end of
the show, now the
crowd will cheer for 3 or 4 minutes and the band will come out and
play
another 2 songs. "There must be some kind of waaayyyy, out of
here"
Watchtower is always a nice opener for the encore. WOW, 9 minutes
of
watchtower, I am getting anxious, will I get to meet the boys. I
have been
told that this is the place to sit if you want to see them, will
they come
out this door? "He wakes up in the morning" The song
that turned me on to
DMB. I can remember sitting in my college dorm room in 1993 when
my roommate
had just returned from checking the mail. He had a package, he
opened it and
2 cassette tapes fell out onto the bed. What are those, I asked?
It's this
awesome band that a buddy of mine told me about. What are they
called, I
asked? Dan Matthews Band I think. Dan Matthews, who the hell is
he? I don't
know but they are supposed to be pretty darn good. Let's see. He
put the
tape in, pressed play, and at that instant, life as I knew it
would be
changed forever. The screaming sound of a violin, the mellow drone
of a sax,
and the punchy, upbeat rhythms of an acoustic guitar kept in time
by the
most incredibly talented drummer I have ever heard. "So here
we are tonight,
you and me together," The sounds of say goodbye snaps me back
to reality. A
three-song encore, that's a first for Nashville. OK, I am ready to
meet the
band, I am so anxious I am about to explode. I had 5th row seats
for this
show and have sat out here the entire concert just to hopefully
see these
guys. "Thank y'all very very much, Good Night Nashville"
OK, this is it,
they are done this time. The hordes of fans file into the parking
lot and
make their ways to home and bar. I wait. The lights go down and
the vendors
pack up. I wait. Finally, the door opens. Is it them? Will Dave
come out?
Will LeRoi come out? Can it be that I will finally meet the boys?
This is
it, the moment I have waited for for so many years. A shadow in
the doorway,
it is, it is, a large man in a yellow SECURITY shirt. "Can I
help you?" he
says. "I am hoping to meet the band," I tell him.
"They have already left"
he says "'bout a half hour ago" "You have got to be
kidding me," I say.
"Better luck next year" He says. Reluctantly, I head
back to my car, highly
disappointed. Now what, Oh well, I'll go to Seanichie's.
Seanichie's is a
small out of the way bar that holds about 50 people but only has
about 15 or
20 regular customers. I have been hanging out there for several
years and
they let me play my music whenever I want to. I park my car in
"my spot",
Get my guitar out of the trunk, and go in. I ask Dale at the bar
if it is OK
if I play. Go ahead, he says, only a few out of towners in
tonight. Not
paying much attention to the crowd I simply walk to the makeshift
stage, sit
down and begin to play. "Neon shines, through smoky eyes
tonight, it's two
A.M. I'm drunk again, it's heavy on my mind" "I can play
that" I hear a
voice say. I look up to the direction of the voice and out of the
smoke
filled bar that I have spent so many drunken hours in, walking
straight
towards me is Dave Matthews himself. I almost fall over in my
chair. All the
boys are there, winding down from the show. Not only do I meet the
band, get
autographs from all of them, including LeRoi, but also I got to
play guitar
with Dave. I will never ever forget that dream.
VOTE
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