Confessions of a Groupie

Oh dear. I looked it up in the dictionary, and I AM a groupie. I've joked for years that I am a Carolyn Arends groupie, but I never really thought that I was. I mean, groupie. Sheesh, that just sounds sort of pitiful and weird. But, today, Webster's has confirmed my fears.

groupie \'grü-pee\ n (1967) 1: a fan of a rock group who usu. follows the group around on concert tours 2: an admirer of a celebrity who attends as many of his or her public appearances as possible 3: ENTHUSIAST, AFICIONADO

I'll take definition number three, thank you very much. Unfortunately, the first two apply equally well.

A light will shine through, though. I found some groupie justification from the unlikely source of this past weekend's Seattle Times. The staff writer, Patrick MacDonald, was writing of Bob Dylan (whose concert tour is hitting Seattle on Friday), but he captured a bit of my own admiration for Carolyn when he wrote:

But Dylan is different. He's showing how great rock stars should age -- by reinventing the past and moving toward the future. Dylan performs his classics from the '60s and '70s, but he short-circuits your expectations by doing them differently every single time. I've seen him perform the same song two nights in a row in two entirely different ways. He doesn't give fans what they want, but rather what he wants. He remains true to himself, and, in so doing, remains a creative force that fans young and old can relate to. (Emphasis mine)

Now, Bob Dylan is about one hundred and twenty years old and not an artist in whom I am particularly interested, but what MacDonald wrote about him is transferable to any truly gifted musical artist -- that ability to keep constantly in touch with their creative center, whether that creativity is fueling new songs or keeping older songs fresh and vibrant. You will never see the same concert twice -- even if the same songs are played.

And that, my friends, is why I never pass up a chance to see Carolyn Arends and Spencer Capier performing live in any venue. There is always something new and unexpected to be heard when those two geniuses get together and jam. It is exciting and breathtaking to see them feed off of each other's immense talent. You feel like you're experiencing some of the echoes of eternity, when that overwhelming Creative force flows out through those human instruments, and you're swept up into something that transcends the roles of players and audience and becomes measured in cupfuls of sublimity. Occasionally, I have seen Carolyn Arends perform with someone other than Spencer Capier, and that, too, is an amazing experience (a particular 2002 concert at Pepperdine in Malibu, CA with a young rock-star-genius-boy -- Adrian? -- who added a definite hardcore edge to the set is one that always comes to mind).

So, I suppose I am a groupie, but no one deserves a groupie more than Carolyn Arends, because she never gives of her talent with a half-heart or simply goes through the motions. At one point, I was seeing her in concert every other month or so, and I never saw the same show twice. The jokes? Well, the jokes are often the same (still good, mind you, but she tends to find a shtick and stick with it). But the MUSIC! The music keeps growing and growing and growing. And I will never cease to wonder at that and be grateful for it.