Bruce Hornsby, Part I: Before the show

Some people have heard this story... some haven't... some have told me they've heard it too many times! But it was really an exciting night, so I have to record it for posterity. Sorry!

Months ago, I got my ticket for Bruce Hornsby's show at the Pageant. I'd never been there, but it sounded like a great place for a show. Then, after looking at all of the great fans on Si Twining's Bruuuce.com site, I wondered if I couldn't arrange to meet Bruce after the show, maybe get a picture of him and me!

So, I e-mailed his office in Virginia and got a nice reply from Patti, his assistant. She arranged for me to have two backstage passes (sweet!) for after the show, but warned me that Bruce sometimes skips these meet-and-greet events. That's cool... I just wanted to give it a shot.

Concert night comes, and (obsessive as I am) I've got my shoulder bag and comfy shoes, for maximum mobility. I got there very early. Around the corner from the parking lot is Suite 100, part of the Pageant complex where they sell band T-shirts and stuff... So, I went in there right away and bought a Levitate tour T-shirt. (Bruce's band is the Noisemakers, so I almost bought Allen a kids' shirt that said "Noisemaker" on the back. I may still get him one online...)

Out of the shop I go, and I walk down the street a ways, still much too early for the doors to open. I pass by the window of a guitar store, Killer Vintage, and just happen to peek in... there sits Doug Derryberry, Noisemakers' guitarist! Well, I'm freaking out, a little vocally perhaps, and this guy standing next to me on the sidewalk says, "Really?" He and his girlfriend had just come out of the store, and they had no idea that the guy inside noodling on all the old guitars was "anybody." So, that's how I met Marc and Rosemary, who also had tickets to the show but knew, really, next to nothing about the band.

So, Rosemary drags us all back inside the shop, eager to chat up Doug, now that she knows he's with the band. She points me out and says what a huge fan I am... that I recognized him though they didn't... etc. She was really a trip, very vocal and outgoing. Great ice-breaker for me!

And there I was, sitting on a stool in Killer Vintage, chatting with Doug Derryberry like it's nothing at all, talking about the tour and different albums and which old guitars and amps sound great and just what exactly it's like to stand on stage with Bruce Hornsby and have absolutely no idea what he's going to do next. Bruce tends to take sharp left turns in the middle of songs, leaving even his own band bewildered. So far, a very cool start to my evening!

I tell Marc and Rosemary that I actually have two backstage passes, so I offer them one. I mean, it's just me, and I won't need both. This makes Marc nervous, because he'll be left out, but, again, he knows nothing at all about Bruce! Perhaps that made it more irksome when we got inside the theater, and I find out that Marc and Rosemary have much better seats than I do!! Harumph!

But these two were very cool, and they offered to let me stand on the floor in front of their slightly raised seats, which is what I wanted to do anyway. I really had no intention of staying in my own seat. Not when there's major music to be danced to!

(The opening band, St. Louis' own The Incurables, were pleasant enough, and it's worth noting that they sounded a lot like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with better singing.)

So, the real show's ready to start. I'm in my spot in front of Marc and Rosemary, and the lights go down... in breezes Tony La Russa and his entourage... Cardinals manager, big friend of Bruce's. I guess he didn't want anyone to ask him why the team took such a dive in the playoffs, or why neither of their two best pitchers won the Cy Young. Tony and his party took some seats about 6 feet away from me, so they had an excellent view of me movin' and groovin' all night long. And I was nearly the only person out of their chair in the whole damn place. How could you sit still at a Hornsby show? Just wrong.

Next up, Part II: The show