Ian,
I’ve been a fan for a lot of years (I was a Freshman in high school when a cool Junior wrote Mott the Hoople on the board — since at least then). During college your albums formed a core of my musical education (John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Bruce filled out the curriculum). I saw you for the first time on the follow-up tour to Welcome to the Club. That was me in the front row at Bloomsburg, jammin’ to the tunes. I saw you and Mick Ronson a few years later in the Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia, when you were playing with Steve Jones. Great stuff. But that was the last time I saw you live. Work got in the way I suppose, but no excuses. I wish I had seen you more.
Then about two years ago I bumped into a youtube video of that free concert you did in Rockerfeller Park in 2009. My God, I thought and frantically wrote my college buddies: “Ian still cranks.” After that I had one concert in my sights — you were playing near New Hope, PA, but Dylan was playing at Lehigh on the same night and I saw Dylan instead. Sorry.
So you’ve been on my mind, but life has gotten in the way. Imagine my surprise then when I looked up the address of World Café Live in Philadelphia. On September 13, 2012 I was heading to the world premier of Gamers, a documentary about dungeon and dragon players, video gamers, trekkies, larpers, etc. The movie was six years in the making – I have been closely associated with it – and by god I wanted to attend its opening. Then I saw that you would be playing downstairs on the very same night, at the very same time!
This letter is tilting toward the self-serving, and may not be particularly interesting to you, so let me get to the point. First, a high school band opened for Gamers, “Post Departure”: a guitarist, a keyboard player, drummer, and bass player. They were good. I sat at the bar sipping my Scottish ale and mused, “Do these boys, who are playing to a pretty full house, know who they are competing with downstairs?” If they do, good for them; if not, well, they have added bragging rights after that head to head gig.
The same goes for Gamers. Christine Farina’s low-budget documentary, a sort of guerilla shoot of various gamers, gaming stores, gaming conventions, and larps, was screening about 100 feet (I’m guessing) from where you were playing. I will admit a moment of shock, my body gave a visceral response when I realized I was going to see the movie instead of you, but it really was a no-brainer for me.
I have your new album, am listening to it now, and hope to see you sooner rather than later. For now, I’ll smile when I think that I very nearly saw you last week. From the set list, look’s like you had a great time, too.
Warm regards from a long-time fan,
Tom