I’ve gotten a lot of comments about the line in my bio that says, “She lives outside of Manhattan with her three guitars, two keyboards, and one drumstick.”
One drumstick? You only have one drumstick? What’s up with that?
Yes. I only have one drumstick. Since I don’t have any pets or children, I thought it would be funny to include the musical instruments I own (although I neglected to include my clarinet since I haven’t played that thing in years). I also like to say that I’m one drumstick short of being a one-woman band.
Okay, okay, but why do you only have one drumstick?
Funny you should ask. Over a year ago, my friend Natalie and I went to a private taping of the Sirius Satellite show “Artist Confidential” featuring Snow Patrol (one of my favorite bands). There were only 40 of us in the audience, so it was a very intimate show. The band played six songs and answered questions from the audience. While answering my question, Gary Lightbody, the lead singer who I sorta have a crush on (understatement of the year), said something like, “and that goes for all bands. I don’t think you sit around and just listen to us.” Now for those of you who haven’t realized this yet, I can be a little sarcastic. So I replied. “No, no. I only listen to you guys.” To which Gary responded, “Aw, that’s sweet of you. YOU LIAR!” Everybody got a good chuckle out of that. Ah, Irish boys…
After the taping, the host of the program gave me the drumsticks from the concert. I got really excited and gave my friend Natalie the other one. Here's the photo of me with my drumstick.
After I already wrote the bio and had a few people comment on the mystery of the one drumstick, I got to meet Snow Patrol again. They played in New York City last September and after the show, I got to hang out with them backstage. We were in their private room so I didn’t say anything to them at the time because I wanted to respect their privacy. However, Gary was sitting two seats away from me and we were both having a drink, so I consider that a date…
When we headed outside, I went up to drummer Jonny Quinn to tell him the whole bio/drumstick story. First off, Jonny is perhaps the nicest rock star I’ve ever met. He was so sweet. After I told him the story, his face lit up and he said, “I’m in a book! That’s so cool! I’m in a book!” I didn’t want to correct him since he technically isn’t IN the book, but still, he was very cute about it. I asked for a picture so I could include it when I finally got around to blogging about it and he was more than happy to oblige.
So that’s the story of the one drumstick. But because I try to use any excuse to tell this other story, I’m not done yet. After talking with Jonny, Gary came over. I didn’t mention the whole “YOU LIAR” comment because a) I doubt he would remember and b) why embarrass myself again. We were talking about their new single “Just Say Yes” (which is AMAZING!) and I made a comparison about it being a cross between Phoenix and LCD Soundsystem. Gary looked at me and said, “That’s exactly what we are going for. I love you. I’m going to kiss you on the face.” I laughed because I thought he was joking, but then he kissed me. So in just two meetings, I’ve gone from a liar to somebody he loves. Not bad, not bad at all…
Needless to say, I can’t wait for our next meeting. Maybe I’ll finally get another drumstick to keep the other one company!