Longest Post Ever
As Eddie Vedder said that night, "The rest of the world is a dark and scary place compared to Santa Barbara."
It all started in February, when Eddie Vedder announced a short solo tour on the West Coast. I didn't know anything about Santa Barbara, but after two-and-a-half hours of frantically clicking the overburdened fan club site for tickets, any tickets, I finally scored Santa Barbara and no other cities. (What a stroke of luck that would turn out to be!)
So, mbangel10 and I made our arrangements and set forth. It started to feel like a real pilgrimage as we landed first in Phoenix, then flew to LA, then rode a shuttle to Alamo, then rented a car and drove down the coast. By the time we were close enough to smell saltwater late Tuesday night, the coastal freeway was basically deserted. My GPS showed that we were driving past the big fat Pacific, but we just stared bleary-eyed into the black night. We drove 99 miles to the Inn at East Beach and crashed for the night.
Our pretty car, in the light of day.
As per usual, I woke up with a migraine the next day. I nursed a coffee and Excedrine, and probably also benefited from just nestling myself between the ocean and mountains. Seriously, Santa Barbara looks like paradise.
Before long, I felt properly buzzed from the Excedrine and caffeine breakfast and we set off into town. Santa Barbara has two main drags--the waterfront and downtown. We enjoyed a charming walk.
We spent the day exploring nearly three miles of State Street, which has everything from funky antique stores to high-end fashion to coffee shops and little boutiques.
I needed a fur fix and stopped to pet any dog I could, like this happy one in a furniture store.
But I didn't pet this dog, who was just strolling down the street with a bored-looking cat and a rat on his back!
rat on a cat on a dog!
That night we treated ourselves to a fancy dinner. I had a glass of local Santa Barbara wine, and once, when I intended to flick hair out of my face, I almost flicked myself off my chair. Lightweight.
Anyway, we started the next day with a walk on the beach. Santa Barbara's beaches are beyond gorgeous, with blue water to one side and mountains on the other. We soaked up the great salty air and sun. I love just gulping big salty blasts of ocean air. We also sipped coffees on a pretty pier.
Then, we took a bus tour, which was a lot of fun. I even sort of wish we had done that first, because it helped me get my bearings and learn my way around town. We happily rolled past beaches, lovely architecture, and even celebrities' homes. I didn't expect to be such a fan of the old Spanish-style buildings, but I was completely enchanted.
After that, it was time to go get ready to see Eddie Vedder! And I swear, I sort of knew that we were going to meet him. But I wasn't nervous. Seeing his name on the theater marquee had given me elephant-sized butterflies in my stomach, but I felt surprisingly Zen about meeting him. I curled my hair and put on my favorite shirt and felt confident that I was ready for it to finally happen.
Melissa and me, dressed and ready to meet Eddie Vedder!
We drove down to the Arlington Theater, and again I say--we couldn't have been luckier to end up in Santa Barbara.
The Arlington is a movie theater that's made to look like an outdoor Spanish courtyard. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but you're made to feel like you're sitting in a little square, under a blue starry sky and surrounded by little lit balconies. Plus, the venue is smaller than my old high school auditorium...small enough that when Eddie lit a cigarette from the stage, I could inhale his smoke!
The gorgeous Arlington.
First, Melissa and I pressed our ears to the building to catch sound check. I gasped with delight. As much as I love all the Pearl Jam CDs, Eddie seems to save his best vocals for his live performances. If his voice were a color, it would be a warm, glowing golden color--a molten honey that just coats my soul and makes everything okay.
After sound check, we waited outside the back door with other fans. That's when we got to see Eddie enter his tour bus! We all screamed out a hello as he passed, but he waved and told us he wanted to rest.
The stake-out.
After that, Melissa and I joined the rest of the fan club in line for our tickets. When you buy fan club tickets, you never know where your seats are going to be until you claim your tickets at will call. So, the moment is always mixed with anticipation and the potential for either great glee or terrible dissappointment. Melissa and I literally shrieked with joy when we discovered that our seats were sixth row center! We hung around the entrance for a while, comparing tickets with other fans and finding that people had travelled from far and wide to be there. We even talked to two Canadians who had never had a reason to come to the US before Eddie Vedder's tour.
Very happy Eddie fans!
As we walked into the theater, I made sure to savor one of the greatest feelings in the world. That is the feeling of walking closer and closer to the stage, and knowing that I still haven't found my seat yet. We headed down the aisle and other fans peeled off into their rows, but the stage just loomed larger and larger as Melissa and I made our way to Row 6!
The opening act, Liam Finn and Eliza Jane.
After that, everything was just wonderful. The stage crew -- the same lucky people I've come to recognize from Pearl Jam concerts -- were dressed in white lab coats (only Eddie knows why), and scurried around building a shabby living room set. At one point, a man in a white coat and a wrinkly, troll-faced mask came out, broom-swept the stage, and stared at the crowd. We knew it had to be Eddie inside the mask. :)
Then, while the lights were still on and people were still finding their seats, we heard piano music coming from one of the balconies. We all looked up, surprised, to spot Eddie Vedder, just minding his own business and plunking away on a piano! A cheer went up, Eddie waved, and then Eddie Vedder tied a rope to a pillar and actually climbed down to the floor! Because I am apparently turning into my mother, while everyone else cheered I yelled "EDDIE BE CAREFUL!!!!"
And then, Eddie took the stage with his guitars, a ukulele, and a mandolin. The show was just bliss. Honestly, I wish I could remember more of it, but I think I left my body. I alternated between thoroughly blissing out to the music and anxiously reminding myself to be present and remember each beautiful moment.
I don't think any of us could get over how intimate the show was. There were times that I blushed because I felt sure Eddie could see me swooning at his feet. All the reviews I'd read of his tour had prepared me for annoying fans-and it did prove hard for people to keep their mouths shut, when Eddie was close enough to hear every dumb comment. Our crowd behaved themselves for the most part, but Eddie seemed to have developed a tactic, over the past week, for dealing with the screamers. He'd say, in good humor, "Oh, shut the fuck up!" but then offer us a sing-a-long so everyone could participate. When some girl screamed out the inevitable "I LOOVE YOU EDDIEEEE!", Eddie deflected it with polite modesty. Lots of people had the gall to yell out requests. I don't think anyone heard me when I yelled out my own "request," of sorts: "Whatever song you want!"
I just adore Eddie Vedder so stinkin much.
Eddie did some original songs, some covers, read us a poem, chatted with us between nearly every song, and generously offered us some Pearl Jam tunes. Eddie was in a great mood, and I felt like he injected a lot of joy into the sad songs from "Into the Wild." During the second set, he asked us all to join him on "No More War," and the entire theater joined him in begging for peace. Beautiful.
But the third set was the most magical. Eddie returned to the stage in a white lab coat. The backdrop changed to a picture of blue water against a horizon, and the lights came on bright. Eddie delivered a joyful, thundering "Hard Sun" while rocking across the stage and we danced and sang at his feet. It was amazing.
And over all too quickly.
Melissa and I hung around, shared our delight with the fans around us, and then headed to the back door of the theater. This is where we stood for the next THREE HOURS:
First, we knew that Eddie had auctioned off a meet-and-greet for charity, so we decided that we'd wait that out. So, about 30 of us hung around until a group of clearly starry-eyed fans exited the theater. After that, Eddie and Ben Harper sprinted past us and into the tour bus! The crowd thinned out a bit after that, but Melissa and I knew something was up because... the security guards kept taking a head count of the remaining fans. And why would they do that? Why wouldn't they just force us to leave?
I turned to Melissa once and said, "This is really going to happen, isn't it?" And she just looked at me and said "Yeah. It is." And I just shivered and waited.
It was freezing, too. The ocean wind was blowing in and leaving each of us damp and chilled. My toes were numb and I distinctly remember feeling my butt cheeks shivering together. But my optimism was renewed each time Eddie's security guard stepped off the tour bus, seemed to take a head count, and reported back to the bus.
Finally, at 2:30 am, the bus driver started up the tour bus. My heart leapt to my throat, and I hoped that I wouldn't have to remember this as the night Eddie Vedder let me shiver for three hours before driving away. Not that I felt at all entitled to anything--but I just had a feeling and I wanted it so badly.
But then suddenly, the security guard came out, lined us up, gave us the ground rules and, it was sort of a blur...suddenly, Eddie was there. His hair, his denim jacket, every image that's been so familiar to me since I was 12 years old!
Just like when I found him in my hotel in Cinncinatti, I remember the scene in surreal, slow-motion. I remember being very patient as he made his way to me...again, I think I went out of body. I remember that he was very short, probably shorter than me, and that he was kind and soft-spoken and made sure to look everyone in the eye.
My mind had pretty much glazed over by the time he got to me, but I did manage to string together some coherant sentences about how I've met the kindest people because of him, and visited beautiful places because of him. After all these years (15!!), I was ready, and I wasn't going to annoy him or gush.
Eddie looked me right in the eye, responded sweetly and with polite enthusiasm, signed my program (with love!), and gently took my hand.
And then, I took the hell off.
Okay, looking back, that was silly. For all I knew, he may have hung out with the other fans for a while and shot the breeze with them. Maybe he invited them back on the bus! I doubt it, because I'll never know--my feet never touched the ground as I happily floated back to the car.
:)
But that's not exactly how I always dreamed of meeting Eddie Vedder---on the other side of a gate, with security in place to protect him from people like me. It was perfect and amazing, but I'm hoping for another meeting one day, when I'm involved in a project or write something that lets me cross paths with Eddie Vedder on different terms. It could happen. Maybe I'll get him to do a benefit for an animal shelter! (He loves dogs, you know.)
After that, I think I woke up half my friends with crazed, happy text messages. It was a long commute home the next day, on very little sleep, but nothing could bring me down from Cloud 9.
And, you know in "Being John Malkovich" when Malkovich goes inside himself and can only hear "Malkovich malkovich. malkovich malkovich malkovich?" Well, I was like that with Eddie Vedder. I could have sworn that everyone on the plane was murmuring about Eddie Vedder. Even today, one of my colleagues said the words "any better" and my head snapped to attention.
So, that's that! I hope Eddie tours again. But at any rate, I'm going to see Pearl Jam in Tampa, DC, and twice in NYC this summer.
I'm so glad.
:)
xoxo,
Jolene