Dad Loves His Work

Okay, so if you know me at all, you know that I love THIS GUY:

James Taylor. Circa 1970-something above and 2000-something below.

His music is the soundtrack of my childhood, my memories of road trips with my parents, of the shared love of music I have with my dad. I've seen him in concert a few times as well as his son Ben, who sounds just like him but clearer (even you might like him Nadeen), who is exactly my age. If there is one person who loves James maybe more than I do, it's my mother. He's one of those "celebrities" who our family has always thought would be our friend if only we had the chance to meet.

Well everyone, I am here to tell you that dreams do come true.

My parents flew over to Spokane yesterday morning for an early birthday getaway in honor of my mom (her birthday is in November.) James Taylor is performing a concert there tonight. They arrived at their hotel and saw several tour buses parked across the street at a nicer hotel. "That's where the band must be staying," thought my dad. As the bellboy began to help unload the car, my dad casually asked, "So what's going on over there?" "Oh," the bellboy replied, "James Taylor is in town." "Oh really?" asked my father nonchalantly. "How funny, that's why we're here." "Well," responded the bellboy conspiritorially, "He's actually staying here at this hotel." Delighted but playing it cool, my parents had hopes of catching a glimpse of JT at the hotel wine reception held every afternoon in the lobby. They saw several people who "looked like they fit the description" of band members or roadies, but no JT. My mom was hoping only to catch a glimpse of him across the room. After a while they decided to go out and get a bit to eat as it was getting later and they were hungry. They decided on P.F. Chang's because I had been to one in Las Vegas several years ago and said it was good. It was crowded so they sat at the bar in the lounge and ordered drinks and appetizers. After a few minutes a very nice server came over and offered them a booth that had just opened up, and they happily obliged. As they were perusing the menu my dad began to notice that several people who had been at the hotel began to filter in. Their server came over and as they were all talking my mom glanced over and saw sitting in the stool that my father had vacated only minutes before, James Taylor himself. She couldn't help but say, "Oh my goodness, I think that is James Taylor!" Glancing over, my dad said "It is James Taylor!" Their server, being extremely kind and also oblivious as to who James Taylor was, must have thought my parents knew him personally. "Do you want me to go over and tell him to come say hi?" he asked. "Oh no," said my mother. "You don't have to do that. You don't have to disturb him." "Oh, it's no problem," he said and wandered over to the bar. In shock my parents watched as he tapped JT on the shoulder and pointed at the two of them. They waved and smiled, and over he came! And sat down in the booth next to my mother and proceeded to talk to them for about 10 minutes. They talked about their families, about the tour, about songs, about collaborations with other artists. When I talked to my mom on the phone immediately after this encounter, she was giddy with excitement. "He's so nice, so genuine, really the greatest," she said. A couple of hours later when they were nearly done with dinner, my dad called again and relayed rather breathlessly that they had talked to James three more times during the course of the evening (all initiated by JT) and at one point, he came back to their table and sat next to mom again to watch part of the World Series (he's a Red Sox fan of course, as he calls Massachusetts home.) I still can't believe it! What a chance meeting. What a memory! I am so happy for my parents...and so proud of them, for being friendly, for not being too timid, for obviously making the legendary JT feel as though he'd just met a couple of new friends.

I'd be lying if I didn't also say that boy oh boy, I wish I had been there too.