"I was the one standing with Howard in the theater," I added. "Um..." then I felt myself rushing through the words "Ijustwantedtosaythatyou'remyidolinthisbusinessandI'msocompletelythrilledtobestandingheretalkingtoyou."
"Wow," he said. "I'm flattered. What was your name?"
"Mike West," I said. He stuck out his hand, and it wasn't until I shook that I realized how badly my own hand was trembling. "Um," I continued, the flop sweat now dripping down my forehead, "I'vegotareviewcomingupintheVillageVoiceand..."
He seemed impressed. "You have a review in the Voice?"
I was flustered. "Well, yes. Not a review OF me, but one I wrote..." God, I'm a blabbering idiot!
"Wow," Giddins said again. "You know, I don't much get the Voice anymore, but I'll pick it up this time."
I blushed. "Wow, thanks!" I said. "butyouknowInearlygavemyselfanulcerthinkingIwasfollowingyou..."
"Don't do that," he smiled.
"I'm okay," I said. "But you know, it was like...I was so intimidated!"
He nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I felt the same way — still do — when I consider Dan Morgenstern."
That helped. It's good to know that your role models get nervous around their role models, too.
"And when does your review come out? Next week?"
"Well, it's due this Wednesday, so..."
"So next week. Okay, Mike, I'll look for it."
"Well, thank you," I stammered. "Anditwasanhonortomeetyou."
"Okay." he grinned, nodded, and disappeared.
I turned around, and there were my friends, with knowing smiles on their faces. I'd just been in the presence of two heroes, and they could see it all over me.
"WOW!" I said. "WOW! Holy shit! I just saw Ornette and met Gary Giddins! WOW! Holy shit! ...I gotta call my wife."
There's no overriding theme to this column. I just wanted to gush about my unbelievable evening with the jazz stars.
Article comments
1 - scott
Great story!
2 - Pico
Wait a minute, you met....zingzing? Holy shit, what an evening!
All joking aside, that whole thing getting to catch Ornette perform and rubbing elbows with the big boys of jazz journalism sounds like a pretty damn cool experience in my book.
3 - zingzing
pico,
meeting me is something you never forget. unless you drink so much that you forget everything. which happens all the time. or more frequently than it should. mike, apparently, doesn't remember me peeing on his leg. which was a lot of fun.
it was an interesting evening. after the concert we went down to some club in the east village and saw some more jazz, of a decidedly trad nature, with ping-pong and pool going on all around us. there was a plethora of barely-clothed women and vomiting into sinks. AT A JAZZ CLUB. ahh, new york.
4 - Michael J. West
Ahh, yes. The barely clothed women and the vomit-filled sink at Fat Cat were a nice little bonus.
Pico, I've actually known zingzing since we were 6. We've been music-geeking together since high school, drinking together since college, and generally making asses of ourselves in large metropolises all across this great nation of ours.
5 - zingzing
to a quarter century together! raise your tee-ball bats high! higher, mike! swing at the ball, not the tee! for fuck's sake, you little shit, figure it out!
6 - Pico
I dunno zing, maybe Mike didn't notice you because he was too busy peeing down his leg himself when he met Gary Giddens ;&)