Kevn. Fucking. Kinney.
4.17.2005
awesome. tough to describe how magical an experience is - or the artist performing - when 1) there's nothing to compare it to, and 2) seemingly no one else has heard of the guy ;)
kevn kinney is an incredible songwriter (from Athens, GA via Atlanta - which is home nowadays...) and drivin' & cryin' (his first band) put out some incredible cd's as well, and to this day were the loudest concert I've ever been to.
anyway, timmy and I went backstage, timmy gave him a gumball machine angel and a note that he wrote describing why he wanted kevn to have the angel. kevn said he was gonna put it on the dashboard of their van to keep 'em safe. gave timmy the pick he used for his opening set. tore timmy's note in half (since half of it was blank anyway) and wrote a note to timmy on the blank half that said "timmy! thank you so much for the angel! (scribbled a really neat pic of a guy playing guitar) Kevn Kinney"
timmy starts grinning from ear to ear. informs KK that his favorite song is the "Indian Song". they talk briefly and shake hands and kev goes off to get some chow, and we go back inside to see sarah lee guthrie (grand daughter of woody, daughter of arlo...) and her husband play a folk style show that'd just blow you away.
venue is a small art gallery in downtown lansing. LITERALLY 100 people. small, acoustically incredible. the building has a life of its own. we sat front row center of course for both parts of the show. except when sarah lee and johnny were playing, kevn came out and sat on one of the benches against the wall about 10 feet from us... timmy marches over and sits down next to him and talks quietly about "did you know The Clash are from England?" and "your show was great" and "I like your hat..." and "thanks again for the pick..." I kept turning my head to look at timmy making sure he wasn't being a pest, and seeing the interaction between timmy and an artist/person who over the last year or so has become one of his favorites was truly incredible.
kevn kept flashing this grin and kind of giving me the "it's okay" type of wave...
sarah lee guthrie is as lyrically/vocally talented as she is fucking beautiful :) her husband johnny irions is equally talented both lyrically and vocally, but doesn't do much for me physically ;) hahahahahahahahaha
there's something to be said for seeing artists you admire and have respected and researched (in my case, it's like a mission...I wanna know what makes folks tick...)...something else to see them in such an intimate setting. something even more to meet them and have them treat you as a person, with no sign of piousness or arrogance. simple personal values of treating folks like you'd like to be treated are rare nowadays. "keeping it real" for real. the epitome of an artist who plays from the heart, on stage and off.
I only hope that my children keep those values as well - not as artists, but as people. just be themselves 100% of the time. not to be swayed by the temptations of cliques or trying to be someone they aren't to please someone else.
you can sell a million records and be an asshole. you can sell 100,000 and be true to yourself and those who admire you as an artist and as a person. most of the artists I like can (seemingly) attest to the latter.
front row tickets for the show (3): $48
donation to the art gallery: $40
watching your son enjoy and appreciate a great show and meet some truly incredible people: priceless.
hard to find anything this morning (give me a couple hours... :)) to be pissed off about. hence the happier side of me being exposed.
walking on clouds this morning...timmy couldn't hardly wake up to get to school but sure was excited to tell his unknowing friends about going to a show with his daddy.
gotta stop. tears. happiness.
awesome. tough to describe how magical an experience is - or the artist performing - when 1) there's nothing to compare it to, and 2) seemingly no one else has heard of the guy ;)
kevn kinney is an incredible songwriter (from Athens, GA via Atlanta - which is home nowadays...) and drivin' & cryin' (his first band) put out some incredible cd's as well, and to this day were the loudest concert I've ever been to.
anyway, timmy and I went backstage, timmy gave him a gumball machine angel and a note that he wrote describing why he wanted kevn to have the angel. kevn said he was gonna put it on the dashboard of their van to keep 'em safe. gave timmy the pick he used for his opening set. tore timmy's note in half (since half of it was blank anyway) and wrote a note to timmy on the blank half that said "timmy! thank you so much for the angel! (scribbled a really neat pic of a guy playing guitar) Kevn Kinney"
timmy starts grinning from ear to ear. informs KK that his favorite song is the "Indian Song". they talk briefly and shake hands and kev goes off to get some chow, and we go back inside to see sarah lee guthrie (grand daughter of woody, daughter of arlo...) and her husband play a folk style show that'd just blow you away.
venue is a small art gallery in downtown lansing. LITERALLY 100 people. small, acoustically incredible. the building has a life of its own. we sat front row center of course for both parts of the show. except when sarah lee and johnny were playing, kevn came out and sat on one of the benches against the wall about 10 feet from us... timmy marches over and sits down next to him and talks quietly about "did you know The Clash are from England?" and "your show was great" and "I like your hat..." and "thanks again for the pick..." I kept turning my head to look at timmy making sure he wasn't being a pest, and seeing the interaction between timmy and an artist/person who over the last year or so has become one of his favorites was truly incredible.
kevn kept flashing this grin and kind of giving me the "it's okay" type of wave...
sarah lee guthrie is as lyrically/vocally talented as she is fucking beautiful :) her husband johnny irions is equally talented both lyrically and vocally, but doesn't do much for me physically ;) hahahahahahahahaha
there's something to be said for seeing artists you admire and have respected and researched (in my case, it's like a mission...I wanna know what makes folks tick...)...something else to see them in such an intimate setting. something even more to meet them and have them treat you as a person, with no sign of piousness or arrogance. simple personal values of treating folks like you'd like to be treated are rare nowadays. "keeping it real" for real. the epitome of an artist who plays from the heart, on stage and off.
I only hope that my children keep those values as well - not as artists, but as people. just be themselves 100% of the time. not to be swayed by the temptations of cliques or trying to be someone they aren't to please someone else.
you can sell a million records and be an asshole. you can sell 100,000 and be true to yourself and those who admire you as an artist and as a person. most of the artists I like can (seemingly) attest to the latter.
front row tickets for the show (3): $48
donation to the art gallery: $40
watching your son enjoy and appreciate a great show and meet some truly incredible people: priceless.
hard to find anything this morning (give me a couple hours... :)) to be pissed off about. hence the happier side of me being exposed.
walking on clouds this morning...timmy couldn't hardly wake up to get to school but sure was excited to tell his unknowing friends about going to a show with his daddy.
gotta stop. tears. happiness.
posted by swg11871 at 11:17 AM
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