well, you should read this before you read my entry. man, when i read that, i realized that ladeeleroy had put into words something that had been nagging at the back of my brain for far too long.

see, i was one of those people who heard the old 97's back during the hitchike to rhome days. they played at vzd's, this teeny little bar in okc. and we got there super early, in time to hear the sound check song. timebomb. the first song i ever heard them play. and i nearly wet myself. it was love at first sound.

and i stuck by them. big time. even during fight songs, which is, admittedly, a bit too pop-y.

and then i heard that rhett was on the road alone. and i heard that he had a solo album. and the day that album came out, dave called and asked if i'd bought it yet ... and i hadn't. i, in fact, never bought it. i got it for my birthday just yesterday. and this puppy has been out for quite some time. that was a sad moment for an old 97's fan. and in memorium (cause i agree with ladeeleroy, and i think they're going down the drain), i tell this story about an old 97's show at the gypsy tea room in dallas on new year's a few years ago.

it was a cold and stormy night ... oh wait, sorry, but really, it was freezing ass cold that night. and there was some sort of hold up in getting the show started. so we all stood outside shivering for hours and hours. (we were first in line and had been there forEVER. yes, i am a geek) finally, they took pity on us and let us wait inside, but they still made us wait. so i'm standing right there at the curtain that separates the tea room from the ballroom, waiting very impatiently to be let in ... when the curtain opens ... and out walk rhett and murray ... guitars in hand. they tell us that they feel so bad that we are having to wait so long that they thought they'd come out and entertain us a bit while we waited. there were roughly four feet away from my face. and they played three or four acoustic songs, songs i'd never heard them do before, i might add, with enough bluegrass in them that you could practically taste the piece of straw between your teeth. it was surreal. it was sublime. it was amazing. i could have gone home happy at that point. my night was complete.

and ladeeleroy ... i just can't see this happening these days. things have just ... changed. and, i, too, am in mourning.