i went to see Chris Thile’s new band Punch Brothers last night in Baton Rouge from the front row. it was amazing. who cares about Nickel Creek anymore? Punch Brothers were everything i liked about Nickel Creek with nothing i didn’t. i LOVE the instrumental stuff, and i didn’t even think they played enough of it. i thought the show was fantastic. we stayed back while the place emptied out (it was so small) and leaned up against the stage watching people leave. then we’re walking out the door where the merch table is, and the sound guy comes out to tear some stuff down. i got a setlist and got all the members to sign it after, since after the show they all go out and sign autographs and take pictures.

so we went out to the lobby and waited a couple of minutes, then all of the band came out. i got my picture with Chris Thile, but there were tons of people wanting to talk to him so i didn’t really want to take up too much of his time.

punch bros

i did talk to Chris E (guitar) and Noam (banjo) and Gabe (violin) for a while. i talked to Chris E about the Bingo night stuff. talked to Gabe about what would be the best way to learn to play the violin (buy a cheap one and find a good teacher). talking to Paul (bass) though was weird. he had been talking to this couple for a while, and it was 10 pm, and we wanted to go. so i walked up at a break in their conversation to get him to sign the setlist (he was the last one!) and he looks at it and goes “oh, you got the clean version. usually the titles aren’t what they’re actually called”. it was kind of awkward, cause i was like “really?” anyway, i told him how i got stuck watching his fingers on the bass on a few songs but i think he’s heard that a lot before.

i had borrowed a camera to take pictures, but i ended up not taking any when they were playing. they were so close, and making eye contact, so i didn’t want to be taking a picture. i’m weird about being up close at a show. i like it, but i also feel weird about making eye contact because i don’t want to throw someone off by staring, and i didn’t want to take a picture and have someone miss a note because the camera was RIGHT THERE!

the people towards the middle of the front row were all older. this one lady started talking to me about Chris Thile and about his hair used to be all crazy. she missed it when i said “i’ve seen NC 9 times”. also, i tried taking a picture with my phone of the stage before the show and sending it to a couple of friends, but it wouldn’t send. the guy next to me saw i had a phone and tells me if it went off during the show they were going to kick me out and beat me or something. i was like “what?” then his wife started describing the beating. awkward. they also thought driving 80 miles to see a show was very impressive. it’s not like i had a closer show to hit up, and i do what i can for my favorites. when the theatre guy was introducing them, he said no flash photography. the guy next to me looked over at me like i was a terrible person cause i said i had a camera. awkward again. then they came out and started playing and everything was okay.

oh, and i got a speeding ticket on I-12. it was a 60 mph area where it’s 3 lanes, and i was trying to make it for 7:30 and it was 7. i had no idea where exactly i was going other than looking on google maps, so i wanted to make sure we had enough time to park the car and find the theatre. i was in the left lane and this truck was up ahead of me. he was pretty far ahead of me and then he started slowing down. then i saw the cop on the left side and he hit his brakes like he was going to pull out and get someone, so i slowed down so he could get ahead of me, then he didn’t go. so then i passed him and he turned on his lights. had to have been the shortest he’s had to drive to pull someone over. he comes up to the window and tells me i was speeding and i was coming up too fast on the truck. he said i was going 76 in a 60, which i guess i was, i wasn’t paying attention. i was talking to my friend Whitney and keeping track of what time it was so we could make the show. he gets my license and runs it, but he was really nice, so i didn’t think he was going to give me a ticket. then he comes back and has me sign this little computer scanner thing. yeah, ticket. but then he says i can call this number on the back since it’s my first offense and take a driving class to keep it off my record. so i’ll call tomorrow. first speeding ticket EVER.