August 11, 2005
Car Wheels and Those Three Days
I'm meeting friends for dinner at Zocalo in about two hours, before we venture over to the Botanical Gardens for the Lucinda Williams concert. I just got an e-mail from Allison that said simply RAINING CATS AND DOGS, so who knows if this show will even happen.
It's strange - four years ago I would've been unable to sit still at the prospect of seeing Lucinda in the flesh in mere hours. But now, several years, relationships and live shows later, I feel just sort of "eh" about it. I didn't even bust out any of her albums to prep for the show. Now, in my defense, I've had a lot going on lately - prepping for my Florida vacation next week, book club, going to the gym. (I have to actual schedule this is my planner or else I won't go, so it counts as something that keeps me "busy.") Still, no pre-concert butterflies.
The first time I saw Lucinda live was March 2001 at a South by Southwest show in Austin, Texas. I was there for "work," but really was there to hang out with Al and her (now husband) Chris (the CHRIS) and other friends. On the second night, the night Ryan Adams and Lucinda headlined the day with a large venue show(each were promoting their upcoming relesses Heartbreaker and Essence respectively), I was in total infatuation with one of the guys in the group. Because it was my first Lucinda experience, and I was standing next to someone I really, really liked, and there were several Shiners and about a hundred Marlboros consumed, the Lucinda and this relationship have always been intricately intertwined.
That night and weekend (three days, as it turned out) developed into a relationship that was utterly defined by Lucinda's music. Over that next year or two, I saw her live several more times and I was always thinking of him. (As we lived thousands of miles apart and saw each other not-too-frequently.)
After we "broke up" (or ended whatever it was that we were ending), Teri told me that it's not really a good thing when you can see your relationship in Lucinda's songs, as they are often (though not always) yearning, painful lyrical tributes to sick love. Four years, a move to Atlanta, and a new relationship later, I get that. And I will admit, I don't miss the days I would hide under my covers, her albums on repeat, relating all too well to her sadness and lonliness put down in song.
Tonight, as I hear her play and wonder how anyone can be so simultaneously talented and despaired, the Atlanta skyline will peek out from behind the trees of Piedmont Park and I'll know that I changed the locks and I no longer envy the wind.
Posted by hannah at 05:02 PM
So? Did you go? How was it?
Having only one Lucinda album, and never seeing her live, I do not have the relationship even similar to yours. I just know that I like her style, and some of the lyrics occasionally speak to me. Give me some Graham Nash, though,and hoo boy. It's like a musical guide to live by.
Posted by Coleen on August 12, 2005 10:00 AM
