On His Own

You'll indulge me a fangirl moment.

Tonight, John played an amazing solo set lasting two hours. Without benefit of a backing band, relief, or anything other than a drum machine, a set of loop pedals and his own guts and wits, he filled the Nokia Theatre in L.A.

The show was livestreamed on his website as well, and since I am great with child and had neither time nor funds to go to L.A. for the real show, I sufficed by listening in and chatting with a bunch of other fanfreaks on teh Webz.

He never ceases to astound me.

Five Grammy nods in a year without a new studio album.

A tour without a new project to support, which came off beautifully and gave the fans something to talk about.

Now this.

Honestly, I don't know where he gets it.

Toward the end of the show, he told a story of when he traveled alone in Japan from Tokyo to Kyoto, and how coming up ten yen short meant he had to give the snack cart lady his peanuts back. It was one of his most humbling moments, because she didn't speak much English, and he doesn't speak much Japanese. In that moment he was just another guy, another gaijin who was ten yen down for a complete lunch. It didn't matter that he was rich or famous or anything. He was ten yen down, and he had to give back the peanuts just like anyone else.

I suppose it's not something I think about much, because I tend to live a rather humble life anyway (for a middle-class American, at least). It's not hard for me to remember that I am, as the song says, everyday people. I think regardless of how much money I might earn or how extravagant my lifestyle has the potential to become, I'll remember that one of these days, I'll still be just another woman who is ten yen short, and maybe I too will have to give back the bag of peanuts.

I hope so, anyway.



Thanks for an awesome concert, John. Happy Holidays!