So I had this really amazing day yesterday. I drove down to Greensboro, NC to an Obama Get Out The Vote Rally to see SUPERCHUNK and THE ARCADE FIRE play free shows. (Yes, SUPERCHUNK - you can watch them play "Untied" here.). Now I really enjoy The Arcade Fire, but to anyone who has spent much time with me (or just read this blog), you know that Superchunk is very close to my heart. So, I drove to Winston-Salem, stopped at my brother Matt's house and grabbed the free tickets (that he was nice enough to walk to the Obama office in W-S, during his lunch break, and pick up for me), had lunch with my parents and my sister Molly - and drove down to the Gate City.
Superchunk played first. They destroyed. (For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, here are the set highlights: Hyper Enough, Precision Auto, Hello Hawk, Throwing Things, 100,000 Fireflies, From The Curve, Seed Toss, Package Thief. etc.)
So, shortly after the set ended, I was tapped on the shoulder by my old friend, Paul. Paul and I have known each other since the 2nd Grade. We were in drama together in high school. We roomed together for a couple of years at UNCG, and we were in the band Callie's Paw together for 3 years. He was one of the honorary groomsmen at my wedding. So, what is weird about this? Well, we have not spoken for about 4 years. I don't really even know why we have not kept in touch. He stayed in Greensboro after college, and Jessica and I moved to Asheville a few weeks after graduation. Since then, we just lost touch. The first thing he said to me was, "I had a feeling that you would be at a Superchunk show." The guy knows me. Anyways, it was so great to see him, catch up on our lives, talk about everything, take pictures, and reminisce. He is a realtor now, and lives in a nice area of Greensboro. I showed him pictures of Noah the Great. We talked about music and our families. We talked for about an hour, then just watched the Arcade Fire set together (which was really inspirational). I left to drive back to Asheville with an amazing feeling. I was just so happy to see Paul.
The funny thing is, I had not planned on going to this show until the last minute for the following reason. My brother was coming up to Asheville to see one of his favorite bands, Clutch, on Thursday. I was going with him. As the show got closer, Matt expressed some hesitation about going to the show, as he has had a lot on his plate lately. Then, the next day, the lead singer of Clutch got a throat infection and they essentially refunded the tickets. Matt said it was fate. Then I decided to go the the Superchunk/Arcade Fire, but Jessica was tied up with work stuff. So I just went alone. And, while there I saw two amazing bands, listened to two hours of NPR, visited the fam, ate barbecue, and rekindled a lost friendship. And afterwards - I was excited to get back home, see Noah and Jessica, and teach history. Yesterday was a great day.
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