SCRUB MY POT! Scrub it until it sparkles and gleams of copper! Scrub it with Twinkle until it can shine no brighter! I have just returned from the Big and Rich new CD signing at the newly opened Best Buy at 44th and 5th Avenue and it was the most amazing capper to what has fast become a most cherished week in my life.
Let me just first clarify for those of you who may not have my listening leanings, which are diverse to say the least, why I like Big and Rich so much and how their music speaks to my soul. It's the spirit, the musical references that have a remarkable range of genre's and generations, the absolute reverence and irreverence at the same time and for the appropriate things. That is how I felt from simply listening to their first CD, Horse of a Different Color.
However, when they played CBGBs in June of 2004, it was their live show that blew one's mind and raised the bar to an entirely higher level. These guys knew HOW to perform and they worked the crowd into a sweaty frenzy with Kenny flinging his "Love Everybody" tee-yes the very one he had performed in-flinging it high into the sky above the packed crowd on the dance floor.
Suddenly I who is not even athletic, not by any stretch of the imagination, suddenly found myself leaping into the air like I was "Wilt the Stilt" going for a jump shot and snatched it out of the clutches of a teenage drag queen and I got it! Me! Me, who never wins anything won Big Kenny's tee and he even signed it backstage.
There was an after hours show and seeing most of their Mafia kin bring the Muzik Mafia to the Cutting Room helped keep the party going into the wee hours. It also gave a lot of New York based performers a lot of food for thought and provided inspiration for many artists and producers, some who had traveled quite far for the evening's entertainment.
Flash Forward to September 2005 when C.W. and Lindy LOO are walking around Union Square adding atmosphere to the country festivities and also getting front row seats for the noontime concert of Big and Rich, sponsored by Chevy's American Revolution Toour.
Once again they were amazing LIVE! C.W. had missed CBGBs so he finally saw what I had been telling him about since that night a year earlier. I lifted my big hat to reveal my little hat several times and had vainly convinced myself that both Big and Rich had each seen and laughed at Lindy LOO's hat trick. I even told C.W. that my fondest wish was that they might say to each other at some later point, "Did you see that funny gal with the little bitty hat?", and have a laugh together.
Cut to present day and there I was on line waiting to see B&R again as Lindy LOO and I must say the Best Buy clerks were all incredibly gracious, good humored and genuinely nice folk who made the time pass very well. Just then the crowd broke out into applause and B&R magically appeared from the back of the store-while everyone had been feverishly watching the front door for their entrance. Instead they had snuck up on us from behind. It was so Wild West Ambush!
As I approached the signing table, Big Kenny gave me the most beautiful beaming smile and said before I could speak, "I've been telling everyone about your little HAT!" I think I replied but I was in a heavenly haze from his kind remark when someone said, "Lindy LOO! Look this way!", and I suddenly remembered something about a picture. I know we both turned towards the voice and I either saw a flash or stars, but I'm not sure which. One thing I do know for sure is that I was definitely smiling!
I shuffled the three steps sideways to speak to John Rich saying, "Maybe one day you'll need a funny lady to open for ya'll!" Then he looked up at me and said, "We sure could use another Minnie Pearl." To which I replied, "I'm sure hoping so-"when I suddenly looked into his eyes and my head began to swim with all the things I wanted to tell him about his music, his incredible writing, that I want to use their songs in my show, Big City Hick, but everything seemed to be in a cobwebbed jumble inside my head.
All I remember is staring at the brim of his hat trying to stay focused. In fact, I'm certain that I could describe in minute detail that brim, although I did manage to stammer out how much I love the song "Never Mind", on the new "Coming to Your City" CD (which I of course PRE-ordered) and how that song just rips my heart out. He smiled, "You like that?" and then they were pushing me on and through, giving the next fan their opportunity.
I fairly floated down the stairs, posing I think for a few photos along the way, but mainly floating on a cloud of dreams and gratitude for the most incredible country vacation that I've had in years. And it was all here in my very own backyard! There really is no place like home! Scrub my Pot!
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