So, I received permission from Tift to photograph the sound check, which I'd done at the Home Is Loud show at the Art Museum. It was peachy keen neato. Tift wasn't on stage yet when I got to the amphitheatre, but her dad was standing in for her, rocking out with the band.
Tift finally made her appearance, and went through a few numbers as they got the different mikes and speakers and monitors all working to her satisfaction.
I wandered around taking pictures, much like I was part of the crew or something.
Finally, she said she would do one more number and then clear the stage. She looked around at her bandmates, and then she said, 'I know, let's do 'Still Pretending'." Well, that just sent my heart a-pounding.
You should understand that, aside from the sound crew, the band, a friend of mine who was hanging out by the sound board, and Mitch over to the side setting up the merchandise table (that would be Mitch the Merch), I was the only person in the audience. This was like my own private performance. I was spellbound.
Not to say my camera wasn't clicking, and when I was looking back at the pictures (which I'll get processed one of these days) I could hear the song in my head.
So Tift finishes, and I rise to give her a one-person standing ovation. Then I walk right up onto the stage. I believe she was a little surprised by this, she tried to tell me I was in the way of the sound man. But I had two Makers Mark Minis I'd smuggled in, and I was able to hand them to her.
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