I was a late bloomer in life. I liked books more than friends and grass stains more than dresses and Jesus more than boys – But I grew out of all of that early enough on; I was mostly a late bloomer when it came to music. Which is ironic considering my chosen profession as a record store owner (shameless plug: Slowtrain, 221 E Broadway)…but I credit my tardiness on the scene for my long-term passion for music. I felt I had missed so much for so long that I dove right in and never stopped. And even as Chris (my husband and co-owner of Slowtrain) and I endlessly searched online for new bands and songs and bios and any information we could get our hands on…we were still never much of concert goers. My sister worked at a big venue in Phoenix so we went to free shows there; but they were all big (BB King), flashy (David Bowie), and passionless (Coldplay) shows. We always had good seats and $8 beers, but the night would often leave us tired and uninterested. We were bored with concerts. The big overrated Budweiser sponsored concert pushers had numbed us so badly that we almost gave up completely. Even when good shows came through to play great small venues we were so disheartened that we usually made excuses not to go (weeknights were definitely out and drives more than 15 minutes were absolutely out).
But all of that changed with just one email that our local record store sent out for a last minute show just a few years ago. We had often seen in-stores advertised at the shop, but had never been to see an act play there and decided to give it a shot. We had nothing better to do. The band was Okkervil River, and Chris had made us a mix of their music a while back. I thought it was pretty good so we made the trek to Tempe and stood among the CDs, vinyl, and hipsters on a hot Arizona spring night waiting for the show to get going. Soon it started, and this is where writing about a concert, at least this concert, gets difficult. I’m not sure words can truly capture what happened that night at Stinkweeds. There was music and singing and yelling and sweat and passion and heartache and redemption and camaraderie…it was surreal. I had never felt anything like it before. I felt alive and enthusiastic and thrilled and exhausted and embarrassed and grateful. I was singing along to songs and I didn’t even know the words – but it was just the right thing to do, anything else would have been unnatural.
That night, Will Sheff and his array of songs changed me. Okkervil River changed me. They changed the way I listened to CDs and the way I felt about live music. As we left the store and saw Will loading gear into a rusty white work van I thanked him for everything he did that night and I left renewed.
A year and a half later when Okkervil River finally came back through Arizona it was in Tucson: more than an hour away from us and on a Wednesday night. It was the best trip to Tucson we had ever made, and that next Thursday I was back at my desk at 9am just having driven in with my ears ringing and my coffee begging my eyes to open a little wider to see the computer screen. I had never been so tired, but never felt so right.
Anna Brozek and her husband Chris own and operate Slowtrain, an independent music store located at 221 e Broadway in Salt Lake.
slowtrainmusic.com
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I love it. Every word. And it makes me want to see Okkervil River ... again!
Posted by: Dainon | June 07, 2007 at 01:19 PM