22 November 2008

a story about catie curtis

this story begins with catie curtis, continues with catie curtis and keeps on going. right around the turn of the century on the first friday in october, my life changed forever. my friend annie and i went to the movies and then decided to go to the monthly lgbt grad student mixer at club cafe - affectionately known as "club gay" or "club cliche" - in boston's south end.

(two things here - 1) contrary to what you will hear from the other resident of this house - i WAS NOT on a date with annie, and 2) while my grad school days were a few years behind me, annie's were not so it was okay that i was there and i WAS NOT there because i was on a date with that current grad student - contrary to what you will hear from the other resident of this house.)

like any lgbt event, there were ridiculous numbers of "g's" and about 7 "l's" so it was easy to quickly scope the scene. i immediately noticed this tall, floppy-haired hotty who happened to be wearing the exact same outfit as me - really wasn't that out of the ordinary since it was lesbian outfit #15 (black turtleneck sweater, jeans, and black boots) - standing across the room. but, instead of heading over, i headed to the bar to talk to some of my friends for the rest of the gathering. towards the end of the night, i found annie. she was huddled with 4 of the "l's" talking about what to do next.

TFHH was no where to be seen. and then, seemingly from nowhere, she appeared with a bright smile that immediately brought a smile to my face. she gave her name, but i couldn't hear a thing with the music blaring. regardless - i brought her into the circle where we all decided to head to club passim to hear catie curtis.


(two things here - 1) boston/cambridge has an excellent "girl and guitar" music scene and passim is a great place to listen to them play, and 2) catie curtis has always been one of my favorites - great emotive lyrics and a clear love of life.)

of course the show was sold out, but no matter. when a show is sold out, passim, being the progressive and accessible place that it is, pipes the music out on to the street and let's you stand and watch the show through the window. so there we were - me, annie, TFHH with no name and the 4 other "l's" standing on the sidewalk, listening to catie curtis, getting to know each other - blah, blah, blah, blah, blah ... cut to 11:30, 20 minutes before the T was going to close.


TFHH with no name, annie and i boarded the train headed for davis square and continued to talk. we started walking home and began to realize that we had more and more in common - me and TFHHWNN, that is. annie turned off first. TFHHWNN and i kept walking until it was my turn to turn off - but the thing is that we were both totally intrigued. we stopped and talked ... and talked ... and talked ... until it was 3:00 am!


(one thing here - i called annie a little after 3:00 when i got home to ask her if she ever got the name of TFHH. she was less than amused and never talked to me again after that night! maybe we WERE on a date?!)

a lot of details and years follow, but the parts that really matter are - 1) the TFHHWNN was named kristin, 2) kristin and i really got to know each other after that catie curtis concert and came to think of that night as our first date, and 3) kristin turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me - the love of my life and the person that makes me smile like no other.


this all brings me to november 21, 2008 ... and a catie curtis concert. kristin and i headed to the birchmere last night to hear her sing - the first time since that night in cambridge more than six years ago - with
lori mckenna. (thankfully, the birchmere, unlike passim, had space for us since the temperature was hovering right around freezing and it would have been miserable to stand outside and listen!) catie curtis was fantastic - just like that night in cambridge more than six years ago. and kristin and i had just as much fun spending time together as we did on that night in cambridge more than six years ago. really the only differences were that catie curtis had some new songs and kristin and i made the turn off to home together instead of having to talk on the corner for hours.


giddy fans that we are, we bought her new album after the show and waited in line to get it signed. we told her of the story of us "meeting" at her show back in 2002 and then ... kristin shooed me away!! the nerve that she would even consider talking to catie curtis on her own!!


the next part of the story is a little too new, a little too special, and a little too full of details that i'd like to keep to myself for now. but, i thought you might want to know what catie curtis had to say about it ...


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