I Got to Hug a Rock Star!

Last night was a night I have been waiting for, for 12 years.

In 1995, I bought a CD on Columbia House called ‘Sparkle and Fade’ by a band named Everclear and I proceeded to fall in love. In 1997 when they released a CD called ‘So Much for the Afterglow’ I bought it on tape and CD so I could listen to it at home or on my walkman. I didn’t stop. I went horseback riding with my walkman, I walked dogs with my walkman, I caught the schoolbus to school and listened to my walkman, and I didn’t change that tape for literally, like 4 months. When the rest of my class was into Marilyn Manson, Korn and Metallica, I listened to the band with the bleached blonde frontman.

I remember one moment in 8^th grade art class where a class-mate was listening to her walkman while she worked on her pointillism and I asked what she was listening to. It was the Romeo + Juliet Soundtrack, and she just happened to be listening to Everclear’s track, Local God. I rushed out and bought the CD as soon as I could.

I swore one day I’d marry Arthur Paul Alexakis. I covered my binder with hearts with his name and the band’s name in them. I wished I lived in Portland, or at the very least, California so I’d have a greater chance of seeing them.

It was a few years after the release of SMFTA, there were a lot of rumors that Art wanted to release a solo CD, so I did what any other obsessed fan does -- I tracked down a place to email him from his publicity company and shot him an email asking him.

He wrote back: “arthur will be released in October or November”. That was affirmative enough for me, I immediately messaged all 12 Everclear message boards I was on to give them the news.

That fall ‘Arthur’ didn’t come out, and the White Lightning message board abounded with rumors that the band was releasing an album that summer. It turns out Art struggled with his solo work, and wanted his band there as a backup instead of the musicians he hired, and this turned into Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile, the CD with Everclear’s popular single, Wonderful, on it. It was released in July of 2000. In August of that same year I started dating a wonderful (no pun intended) man that most of you know as ‘Mr. Roberts’ who actually rewrote the chorus of that song and sang it to me while it was enjoying the peak of popularity on the radio waves.

In November they released Volume 2 of the Songs from an American Movie CDs: Good Time for a Bad Attitude. In December, Mr. Roberts broke up with me just a week before Christmas, and it became my angst CD throughout the holidays.

In 2003, I bought their CD, Slow Motion Daydream, and was so happy that they released another CD, even if it wasn’t getting any critical acclaim. I bawled that summer when they announced they were breaking up.

About 8 months ago I was on MySpace and decided to check out Everclear’s page. I knew Greg, the former drummer, was enjoying modest success with his band, The Oohlas, but I didn’t have a clue that Art was getting a band together under that name and that they’d already released a few songs. I watched the video for their new single, ‘Hater’ and while I wasn’t as impressed, I was very happy he was still performing.

A month ago, I was flipping through the entertainment section of the Edmonton Sun when right near the bottom of the page I saw a 5 line blurb on Everclear’s date to play at the bar Cowboys here in Edmonton on May 9^th. I freaked out, called Mr. Roberts and bought tickets at Ticketmaster as soon as I got off work.

It’s May 10^th, the show was last night. I am on Cloud 9.

My old friend, Karrlee from high school, who happens to live in Leduc right near Edmonton, decided to come with me so I didn’t have to go solo. I got there at 6:30, a full half hour before door opened and still had to contend with 20 people ahead of me. She showed up shortly after.

We grabbed a drink, checked out the merchandise (the opening bands were Mariana’s Trench and Tupelo Honey), bought a few things and then headed in to find a spot.

Karrlee and I got a spot to the left of the stage in the bar, right by soundboard and entrance to the stage. All the bands would literally have to walk within 2 feet of us to get onstage.

Mariana’s Trench played first, put on a pretty good show, although you could tell the front-man is in-experienced because he just stooped to swearing a lot when he wasn’t singing. I went for a smoke when they were doing the set change for Tupelo Honey, and watched the first part of their set, but knew they wouldn’t play ‘Why I Bother’ (admittedly the only song of theirs I really like) until the very end so I went for another smoke break. I came back, they sprang into Why I Bother, and just then I glanced beside me. I saw the back of a body that looked familiar with a head of short cropped bleached blonde hair that I KNEW I recognized standing just to the left of me. He turned to talk to someone and I started hyperventilating, turned to Karrlee and said, “That’s HIM”.

She looked at him, nodded her approval and said, “He’s Hot”. I felt weak in the knees.

I have been carrying around an issue of Guitar World Acoustic that I bought in September of 2000, and a sharpie I snagged from work in my purse in anticipation of this very moment, so I stepped forward, tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Art, would you sign this?”.

He looked at it, looked at me in confusion, and I pointed at the date on the inside cover, Fall 2000. He looked back at me and asked, “Did you buy that when it came out?”, I nodded and he smiled, took my sharpie and signed the cover.

A minute later I was smiling and realized I hadn’t asked for a picture, so I grabbed my camera, stepped forward again, apologized for bothering him and asked if I could get a picture with him. He looked at the stage, back at me and said, “Not right now, honey, maybe a little later”.

I went out for a smoke after that – I needed it. When I came back in, they were doing set change and Art was posing for a picture with the couple that I’d be chatting to for most of the night (he was a huge fan, as well). I leaned against the wall just watching the man I’d sworn to marry 9 years ago, and 30 seconds later he was walking up to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Did you want to get that picture now?”.

I can die happy now.

PS. They played an awesome set, including a lot of old numbers. The crowd loved them, and even drowned them out during the chorus of Santa Monica. They played a cover of Tommy Tutone’s 867-5309 for their second encore song, and pulled a whole bunch of girls on stage with them. I got waved up, but since I was already teetering in my 3 inch spike heel and my dogs were already screaming for mercy, I stayed on my stool. He apologized for not coming to Edmonton in 6 years.. they’ll be back next year!