fantastic planet of marshall crenshaw

I begrudge no one their passions, be they “Star Trek,” knitting, or SEC football.

My particular passion on Saturday was Marshall Crenshaw. As you may recall this was a rare early concert. In fact, it was so early that its start time overlapped with the Alabama-Arkansas game. Here’s an important detail for this story: the bar where Marshall was playing is a flag-waving, full-to-capacity Alabama bar. The worst two words anyone could have said in that place about 6:10 p.m. Saturday would have been “Go Hogs.”

The Marshall Crenshaw contingent was identifiable by our lack of Crimson Tide clothing and, to be honest, our complete disinterest in SEC football. We wanted the staff to open the room where Marshall would be playing, so we could stop huddling under the giant television and escape the anarchy in the room. Who would have thought we needed earplugs before we went into the show?

It was an exciting game, to be sure. Two undefeated teams, blah blah blah.  But really, that held little excitement compared to seeing Marshall Crenshaw. After waiting for 25 minutes (!) we finally gained entrée to the small room and my friend TH and I got choice seats just behind a couple we had befriended in the huddle.  That was one of the benefits of the delayed gratification. The other was that we were truly primed and ready when Marshall hit the stage.

“Hit the stage” may be overstating it. He is unassuming in his appearance and stagecraft. He played on a borrowed guitar and seemed almost too weary to explain. “I had a ridiculous day,” was all he said.

And then he played old song, new song, old song, new song, and it was absolutely wonderful. One man, one guitar, more than 25 years of musical bliss (power pop and beyond). He is a sigh-inducing  guitar player and singer and especially a great songwriter.  But he was quick to give credit to all co-writers. “Without [insert name of co-writer], there would be no song,” he said again and again. I don’t recall him being quite so humorous.

I try very hard not to go into a show with a wish list of songs, but I nearly always have one. And his song selection could not have been more perfect. He played quite a few from that powerhouse 1982 album, and some compelling songs from the new album. My favorite moment, hands down, was when he played “Fantastic Planet of Love.” It was top of my wish list. Oh, what a great song; I could listen to it every day and never tire of it. Buy me a pint sometime and I will tell you the full story of how I first discovered it and what it means to me. It involves Paris, an airplane and the first time I ever ran one mile.

He closed with “Starless Summer Sky.” Go download it now. You will thank me.

I don’t think I could have been any happier. Even if I’d been an Alabama fan. (They came from behind and won, in case you didn’t know.)