Ya know how you have these way out there ideas sometimes of what you'd like to accomplish in life? Not the routine stuff ... graduate / marriage / children / etc ... but those rare, cool things that you always hear about other people doing and say "I want that."
I have three of those things. Well, sorry, HAD three. I'm down to one. Because yet another of those cool things has happened.
Saturday morning there was a knock on the door. Our friendly postman (and he really is a nice guy) has an express mail envelope for me to sign for. Hmmmm. I sign, it feels like a CD. And it is.
I look at the return address of NYC and realize it's the actual physical and final mastered version of "Hard Love and Free Luck" from my good friend Aaron Lee Tasjan. I've had a rough copy of the album since August ... and have been loving it muchly. I got a couple of the mastered tracks in December and was blown away. The album, pared to 10 tracks, and mastered, is amazing.
I opened up the CD and was reading the story inside Aaron wrote about how the album came to be and how he met the incredible lineup of musicians that play on the album. (SIDENOTE: I love liner notes.) I started to peruse the "Thank You" section and WHAT? I'm totally mentioned.
It was quite a pleasant surprise to be scrolling through and see "Eric and Kara" there among the list of friends and family and fellow musicians. Yep, that was one of the of the two remaining cool things I wanted to accomplish for myself ... receiving a published-liner-note-thank-you. The fact it was for Kara and I, and from someone as immensely talented as Aaron, makes it even cooler.
See, back in 2006, Kara and I did spend a lot of time following Aaron across the United States. In fact, our first date was Autumn Under Echoes at the Treehouse in Dec 2005, which featured a five song solo acoustic set from Aaron, including a great cover of Wilco's "Sunken Treasure." Wilco is Kara's favorite band ... and listening to the two of them later discuss the ins and outs of various Wilco albums and songs and writing patterns led me to have a greater appreciation of the band ... but like Mark & Kelly Nye, Jay Farrar got me in the Uncle Tupelo divorce. (SIDENOTE: In Morgantown, Aaron dedicated "Sunken Treasure" to Kara. She was floored. And, being the completist I am, I have it on DVD, and on my iPod. Cause I'm that cool.)
Also in 2006 we got to see Aaron accomplish one of his life goals, as he did a solo acoustic 10-song opening set ... before another Autumn Under Echoes show at the Treehouse. In his words, "I just did something I've always wanted to do - I opened for myself."
And in the final Treehouse appearance of Autumn Under Echoes, we saw the Greatest. Show. Ever.
In July 2006 Aaron did a solo acoustic tour ... Kara played hooky from work and we caught all five shows ... Columbus, Morgantown, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis, and had a great trip (despite the fact I was very very very sick.)
Throughout 2006, we saw Aaron in various locations with either Swigtooth, Autumn Under Echoes or Semi Precious Weapons, including Asbury Park, New Jersey, Chicago (again), St. Louis (again) ... and Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh (a couple of times) ... and Youngstown.
But all that aside ... it still was pretty fucking cool to read my name there! And Aaron is so worth the trips, too (says he who was in Chicago last weekend to see Semi Precious Weapons, again!)
If nothing else, my life is exciting and adventurous. Two down, one to go!
I have three of those things. Well, sorry, HAD three. I'm down to one. Because yet another of those cool things has happened.
Saturday morning there was a knock on the door. Our friendly postman (and he really is a nice guy) has an express mail envelope for me to sign for. Hmmmm. I sign, it feels like a CD. And it is.
I look at the return address of NYC and realize it's the actual physical and final mastered version of "Hard Love and Free Luck" from my good friend Aaron Lee Tasjan. I've had a rough copy of the album since August ... and have been loving it muchly. I got a couple of the mastered tracks in December and was blown away. The album, pared to 10 tracks, and mastered, is amazing.
I opened up the CD and was reading the story inside Aaron wrote about how the album came to be and how he met the incredible lineup of musicians that play on the album. (SIDENOTE: I love liner notes.) I started to peruse the "Thank You" section and WHAT? I'm totally mentioned.
It was quite a pleasant surprise to be scrolling through and see "Eric and Kara" there among the list of friends and family and fellow musicians. Yep, that was one of the of the two remaining cool things I wanted to accomplish for myself ... receiving a published-liner-note-thank-you. The fact it was for Kara and I, and from someone as immensely talented as Aaron, makes it even cooler.
See, back in 2006, Kara and I did spend a lot of time following Aaron across the United States. In fact, our first date was Autumn Under Echoes at the Treehouse in Dec 2005, which featured a five song solo acoustic set from Aaron, including a great cover of Wilco's "Sunken Treasure." Wilco is Kara's favorite band ... and listening to the two of them later discuss the ins and outs of various Wilco albums and songs and writing patterns led me to have a greater appreciation of the band ... but like Mark & Kelly Nye, Jay Farrar got me in the Uncle Tupelo divorce. (SIDENOTE: In Morgantown, Aaron dedicated "Sunken Treasure" to Kara. She was floored. And, being the completist I am, I have it on DVD, and on my iPod. Cause I'm that cool.)
Also in 2006 we got to see Aaron accomplish one of his life goals, as he did a solo acoustic 10-song opening set ... before another Autumn Under Echoes show at the Treehouse. In his words, "I just did something I've always wanted to do - I opened for myself."
And in the final Treehouse appearance of Autumn Under Echoes, we saw the Greatest. Show. Ever.
In July 2006 Aaron did a solo acoustic tour ... Kara played hooky from work and we caught all five shows ... Columbus, Morgantown, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis, and had a great trip (despite the fact I was very very very sick.)
Throughout 2006, we saw Aaron in various locations with either Swigtooth, Autumn Under Echoes or Semi Precious Weapons, including Asbury Park, New Jersey, Chicago (again), St. Louis (again) ... and Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh (a couple of times) ... and Youngstown.
But all that aside ... it still was pretty fucking cool to read my name there! And Aaron is so worth the trips, too (says he who was in Chicago last weekend to see Semi Precious Weapons, again!)
If nothing else, my life is exciting and adventurous. Two down, one to go!
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