One of the Most Beautiful Stories I have read
Being a Counting Crows worshipper, it is
good, but strange to know that there are
more of us out here that feel the same
about something and to such an extreme
degree. This band decides to blow us away
with lyrics that nobody has ever been able
to describe to us with the deepness and
intensity that the counting crows can.
Yeah, we feel these things, breathe these
concepts, and live these dreams, but Adam
is the one who we have counted on to be
our voice, in many ways. We count on him
to sing our emotions out at full volume,
and the new album, contrary to many of the
things I have read, does not let us down
or dissapoint us in any way.
I have been in love from afar....until
November in New Haven when I was finally
able to meet this man and hear him sing
for me. I live in Oregon, but distance
could never stop me (Three thousand five
hundred miles away, what would you say if
you could....). I flew to New Haven and
spent five days on the opposite coast
dealing with the fact that I would be
meeting this man, or at least hoping I
would be able to make out his face from
the balcony seat I had.
The irony behind this all was incrediable
and luck was not on my side. The rented
car I had decided to let the battery die
and so I had to call out a mechanic to
come and fix it QUICKLY. At last I am on
my way, with my friend in whom together we
love adam. We arrived at the palace
theatre an hour before the concert was to
start. We headed to the front of the room,
not even remembering that our tickets were
for Q row on the balcony. We sat in the
third row in somebody elses seats, we sat
there for hours until right before adam
came out, the jerks who didn't even
bothering to take their seat until seconds
before, came to claim them. My friend,
Lory and I were dying. We wanted to be
their more than anyone else there and we
were seatless. So, we chose to go to the
second row and acted like we had seats. As
soon as adam came out (looking hot) I was
dying. This man was standing in front of
me, I had only viewed him from pictures
before this point. The bodyguard
understood and felt for us, he grabbed my
hand and had me step over the seat to the
front row, in front of those who had front
row seats. I was melting....
The entire concert was a dream. His sweat
and spit would land on my face and skin
and were very much welcomed. I could sing
every word along with him except for the
times when he would look right into my
face and his eyes would make me frozen.
Time was standing still, an old saying,
but invented for this concert. He would
freak out in dance or get so overwhelmed
he would hit his head on the piano. He
used a towel to wipe his face and body off
with and during Round Here he handed the
towel to me. (listen, I was 2 feet away
from him for an hour and 15 minutes). So I
had this wet towel filled with sweat from
Adam's body. Life is great.
After the concert, I was in a state of
shock. He looked at my friend and I for
such long periods of time and inside we
were going so crazy. When he had left
stage for good we sat down realizing that
the quest for Adam was ending and the
thing we wished and wanted most in life
was over. Our lives were over. But not
really....
We went outside knowing that soon the
band, including ADAM, would be out soon.
We found the door where they would be
walking out and there were body guards and
other people standing out there. After
freezing my ass off for what seemed like
forever I asked the body guards what
happened to those who went into the
backstage, they told me that they would
just kick them out. So I tried. I walked
up the stairs and in through the door. I
walked about five feet and ADAM walked by.
He looked at me ( I think he probably
recognized me from the front row) and when
I shook his hand, he said, "Oh you are so
cold. I'm sorry, I didn't know anybody was
out there or I wouldn't have taken so
long." I was standing there still holding
on to his hand dumbfounded. I managed to
tell him that it was nice to meet him and
that his parents really must be amazingly
beautiful. He told me that he would go get
his jacket and a pen and would come out to
sign things. Two minutes later he came
outside with his jacket, scarf, hat, and a
pen. He started to sign things and people
would ask him questions and he would be
polite and answer all the stupid questions
people would ask. He was very nice just to
come out and didn't act like he was in a
hurry, he just stood there like he had all
the time in the world. He signed my ticket
and my towel (that was still pretty wet,
but keeping me warm). He told me to hold
on to one end of it and to pull it tight
so it wouldn't look so sloppy. During this
whole time he would laugh at my friend and
I and tell us that we looked so cold. We
asked if he would ever come to the West
Coast or Oregon and he said in the Spring
they would try. By this time every one
else had left after they had ADAM sign
their things. So Lory and I and a few
other people were there. We stood and
talked to him about things my brain
couldn't recollect after because I was so
nervous I didn't know what to think. He
asked me if it was my birthday, which was
a weird ironic thing because he said,
"Happy Birthday, Carrie" at the concert
and my name is carrie, but it wasn't even
me. Then these guys that we were talking
to after the concert, but before meeting
ADAM, told ADAM that we had come from
Oregon to see him. He said, "Oh, you're
from Oregon? SO what are you doing here?"
I just smiled at him and he said, "You
came all the way to see this gig?" I said,
"We really just wanted to see you and
didn't know if we would have the chance
later." He said, "That is the fucking
awesomest thing I have ever heard." (no,
you're the fucking awesomest thing I have
ever heard) Anyway, he said that he had
met with a guy from Portland the day
before and then he said that it was
Portland, Maine and not Portland, Oregon.
He began to think we were lying and he
said, "No, you guys didn't, did you?" I
said, "Yeah, we're leaving in 6 hours" and
he could kind of see my plane ticket in my
purse and asked if he could see it. I
handed it to him and he wrote a phone
number to his manager on it and said that
when he was in Oregon or close to it to
call the number and would get us tickets.
We talked awhile longer and he told us to
have a nice flight home and to get
somewhere warm because it was so cold
outside. We walked off and when I turned
around he was watching and waved good bye.
All I could say and can say after that
experience is MY LIFE IS A JOKE!
I could not believe all that shit happened
in one night. Both albums are so
wonderful. RTS is one that becomes better
and better each time you listen to it. My
friend Lory and I were talking about the
meanings of the songs the other day (not
that we don't every single day), and
realized that we were misinterpreting "I'm
not sleeping". Yeah, Goodnight Elisabeth
is when his girlfriend leaves him, Monkey
is all about Courtney Cox, Margery Dreams
of Horses is the manipulation of the music
industry, and I'm not sleeping is about
sex, right. No, well I don't think so.
Maybe I am a slow person, but I think it
is that some woman is trying to blind ADAM
and manipulating him from the woman (or
idea) that he really wants. "She locks all
the doors..." Is how she shuts him out
from what is really going on and how she
won't let him see and then she tells him
that the woman is talking about him and
whispering behind his back, when really
this woman is making it all up. With
adam's mind this could litteraly be a
woman, but it wouldn't be surprising if it
was a concept or idea he was dealing with,
even a recording company or something.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my
ignorance of that song and see what
everyone else thinks or to find out if I
really don't know what the hell I am
talking about.
If anyone else has any ideas or has met
Adam or talked to him or knows anything
about him that I don't let me know. I hope
my story has inspired all of you to live
with the memory of Adam in your heart...:)
or something. cbecker@uofport.edu