Hey, isn't that Dave Berman?

Some friends took a road trip down to Nashville. One night at a typical Nashville joint, they saw this guy who resembled Dave Berman of the Silver Jews. Both friends were big fans of his music as well as his book of poetry.

"Hey, isn't that Dave Berman?"

Sure enough, it was Dave Berman. They hung out with Berman for the rest of the night.

When the bars closed, Berman invited the friends to join him at his place where he had some coke. Neither friend had ever tried coke, but they could not resist the opportunity to snort coke with one of their idols.

While hanging out and doing drugs, Berman's wife came out to complain about all the noise. She had been sleeping until the party moved to her home. The couple had a shouting match. The friends were beside themselves.

Later that same year, Berman had a breakdown and nearly committed suicide. He then found Judaism and has seemingly recovered from his addictions.

Will Oldham

I nearly missed my chance to appreciate Will Oldham...twice.

Palace Songs played a Lollapalooza second stage once. I don't even remember which year. Either way, I didn't pay attention.

The next time happened when I went to Stache's to see the opening band, Run On. I had seen Run On before in an opening slot for Yo La Tengo. They were really good.

Will Oldham came out with an acoustic guitar and some cheap keyboards that he laid on the floor around him. The audience actually sat on the floor. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Who knows what lay on that floor.

It was sort of slow and this woman was picking me up, probably the first and last time that ever happened. So, we left for the Blue Danube across the street.

A few years later, I paid attention when Will Oldham returned as Bonnie "Prince" Billy. He played with Chavez's Matt Sweeney for the Superwolf tour. I'm glad I caught him this time.

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My sister had a friend/roommate who used to work a Starbuck's in Columbus. One day, a Jetta pulled up with a mountain bike strapped to the trunk. The driver entered the coffee shop. My sister's friend made his latte and Will Oldham drove off.

Columbus Is a Douche Bag

I saw Built to Spill for the first time at Little Brothers in Columbus. Between songs, Doug Martsch suggested that he might share some excerpts from the book he was reading, Lies My Teacher Told Me. He was particularly intrigued by the entries about Christopher Columbus, since they were set to play the city by the same name.

He proceeded to share an excerpt from a journal kept by one of Columbus' crew members. He read, "Columbus is a douche bag."

Built to Spill then continued their stellar set.