I watched an old video of Bruce Springsteen singing Born in the USA the other day, he had so so much energy that all the people watching him were in some sort of shouting trance along with him….and I was thinking….hmmm…I’ve never had that. Never really been a groupie before. In fact, when I used to listen to the Stranger Album in Jr High over and over and over again, I didn’t even want to look at Billy Joel’s photo who wasn’t even part of my musical experience. In fact…his mullet might even ruin some of my favorite songs.
And James Taylor is so smooth, but doesn’t he sort of look like a wide mouth frog when he sings? I just want to listen to him. It’s almost as if the existence of the real singers took away my enjoyment of the songs….like a movie that gets the book all wrong.
This July, Jerry Vandiver came back to Tuscarora. First off, we just really like that guy. I don’t like mullets or the wide mouth frog look, and Jerry doesn’t have either, but I’m saying if he DID, I wouldn’t even mind, I’d still want to watch him sing. Our staff and guests were part of the honored ones of his concert BWCAW tour (see link below, if you have the bandwidth for it, ((ahem)). He sits in the same spot in the dining hall each summer, Andy and I sit on the same table in the back, and I want him to sing my list of favorites, repeat the same concert, and he makes me really happy. The audience changes a little, he writes new songs, but overall, I get the same exact experience, and that is what I want.
I don’t know if groupies like the person first, and the music second, or the music first and then the person second or if it’s just a big mishmash of admiration, but we’ve got it for Jerry around here, that’s for sure. I don’t really care if he’s popular or sells a lot of albums, although I want him to. We can name the songs, I feel like singing along with him…. Yep—can you tell from the photo? Definitely groupies.
Wow, what a touching post, thank you. I am proud to be a part of the Tuscarora family, if even for only a few days every summer.
More songs on the way! (But the old ones are staying right where they are!)
Thanks so much,
Jerry