From The Cheap Seats To Backstage

Despite people's obsession with speed and immediacy, there is still value in the long and winding road, provided you can persist.

It was the mid-to-late 90s. I had no money, but to feed my music addiction, I did album reviews for a small newspaper in El Segundo, California so I could get free albums. I also did concert reviews because that was the only way I could get tickets to shows.

I managed to talk my way into reviewing / getting tickets for a Hootie and the Blowfish concert. Between the opening act and Hootie, the sound guys played an album I had just reviewed and loved by a band I had never heard of named Cowboy Mouth.

Now flash forward to this past weekend and Hootie's annual Homegrown concerts in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Cowboy Mouth has been a client for six years and I consider them friends. I got to hang out backstage with John Thomas Griffith, Matt Jones, Brian Broussard, and Fred LeBlanc (right) before and after Friday night's show when they opened for Hootie.

I have been talking with Mark Bryan (left), guitarist for Hootie, about the solo album he just released.  He was generous enough to arrange for me to see both shows this weekend. 

And it is because of him that Saturday's opening act, Stop Light Observations, has been a client since May. 

To top it off, at the time of the concert in the 90s, I did not even have a girlfriend. This photo was taken Friday by Michele, who I have been lucky enough to be married to for 19 years.

There is something be said for persistence, even if sometimes you are not sure where you are headed. 

---