Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman

OK, I have returned and (mostly) recovered from my whirlwind tour of NYC and 43 hours without sleep!
For those of you that missed it, I went to NYC on Monday to see the lovely and talented Cara Dillon and her equally handsome and talented husband Sam Lakeman in concert. I was up at 5:30 AM to catch a 7:15 bus to the city, and arrived there at 12:15. More details on my city adventures later.

The concert was more incredible than I ever could have imagined. Sam was true to his word and put me on the guestlist, and my friend and I scored some great seats on a big, comfy velvet couch about 10 feet from the stage. We got there early and were first in line when they let us in at 9:00. Cara and Sam took the stage at 9:30. Usually they play with several other musicians, but this evening it was just the two of them. They played almost every song from the new album, Hill of Thieves - it's just been released in the US, go get a copy NOW! - except a few that they really needed a full band to play, and also a few of her older ones including a favorite of mine, Garden Valley. And, much to my surprise, Cara did an amazing cover of the well-known song "Crazy Love" and dedicated it to me! After the show, which lasted between 75 and 90 minutes, a gentleman approached me and asked if I was Kristin. I informed me that indeed I was, and he handed me a paper and said "Cara wants you to have this." It was her handwritten set list for the show! SO COOL! Then my friend went to use the ladies room and came back to tell me that Cara and Sam were hanging out backstage. Needless to say we headed back there! They were talking to some other people so we hung back for a bit, and when Cara was done talking she approached us. I thanked her for the song dedication and she said "Oh, you're Kristin! Thanks for coming!" She also thanked me for the bracelet my friend Malcolm had given her earlier this year. (I posted about it a while back, it's in the archives somewhere if you're interested about that.) At this point I handed her a box containing a new bracelet...she was very surprised and said I shouldn't have done that, but I said that since I had replied to her lovely thank you note with a message of my own promising to make her another if she ever came to NY, I couldn't very well go back on my word! She absolutely loved it (or at least is a very convincing actress!) and when I said I didn't see any CDs and asked if she had any for sale she sent someone to go grab a few copies for me and signed them. "You're not paying for them, I'm giving them to you!" she said, and also added that she would make sure I got an advance copy of her new live DVD, which is scheduled for release in the spring, "...so don't order it!". How cool is that? We chatted for quite a while - especially once I let it slip that I'm a twin and she started telling me about her 2 year old twin boys - and then she called Sam over to talk with us as well. I got a picture with each of them. After that I had to dash off to catch the 12:45 AM bus home...more on that disaster later, I'd hate to ruin such a happy post with that story!

As you can probably tell, it was a night that I will never forget. In addition to seeing an amazing concert by two of the most talented musicians I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, I was pleased to find out that in addition to being great musicians, they are also great people. There are not words enough to express how grateful I am to Cara and Sam for the kindness and generosity they have bestowed on me.

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