okay. so...went to the show last thursday night. sold out. hiatt comes on solo at 9 and operating w/out a set setlist, does 2 dozen songs on acoustic, electric and piano, including 4 brand new ones (WINTERTIME BLUES was great). and! some rarities like IT'LL COME TO YOU (on electric!), WHEN WE RAN and NATIVE SON (piano), and THE MOST UNORIGINAL SIN. very cool to hear different from the usual set material. kinda having an off-night, for him, but the audience dug it & i still got teary at times, a strong catalog and a crazy life'll do that for/to ya.

so me and my girl hang out to say hi afterwards. he comes out, signs some stuff for folks while we wait patiently. gives me a hug and we start talking...it's really comfortable, which was nice, cause sometimes i get a little dorky in the presence of my heroes, you know the drill. we chat about the upcoming record he's working on - Sony lent him some sweet-ass digital 24bit device and he's doing it solo acoustic at his pad in Nashville. plans for that live album with the Goners are moving ahead slowly, he's not sure yet if it'll be a single or double disc thing.

i finally screw up the cojones to ease into my 'secret mission', referencing our previous conversation about db and being upfront about my motives but making it appear that it's mostly my curiosity. gave him the 'i know he's an intense dude...' disclaimer, but all he really had to say was "nah...i just was never that into his music." i was all, man, that's the unkindest cut of all! he laughed. i said, well, the guys a real talent and a great lyricist, shit like 'love is eternal...as long as it lasts'. he smiled, genuinely. hit him with the bridge lyrics, he looked kinda impressed...and so i urged him to give it (NFU) another listen (i gave it to him last year). i've been chatting with him after shows for a few years now, anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes one on one, and i never sensed that he was being less than candid with me.

i moved on to how Patty Griffin don't even know how good she has it, blah blah blah, he agreed very much, and we wrapped up not long after. his inability so far to appreciate the db thing notwithstanding, it went well, so (if it's possible to separate the two), it's really nothing personal after all.