Entering The Sweeps

My wife has been a fan of Steve a long time. We saw him about probably a little over 20 years ago here in Philadelphia. Of course, I wanted to see him again and the guitar was certainly a draw as well. 

Also, my wife's brother has autism, so I definitely felt like I needed to donate to the cause, at least, even if I didn't win. I enter a lot of these things, especially for instruments that I'd certainly like to have. And sometimes you win them!

That Magical Winning Moment

Oh, I was certainly surprised at first. And of course, my wife's first reaction was, “is this something real?” And I had to explain to her what Fandiem is, and that I was entering all these contests. And I was thrilled, again, especially about this great guitar. And at that time, I didn't know for sure that it was the guitar he was actually going to play the night of the concert. And supposedly the first–the only time–he’d play that guitar. So that made it even more special. 

Traveling to New York

There was some, discussion going on about how we were going to get to New York City. They originally were talking about flying and all this other stuff. I'm in Philadelphia, so it was about a two and a half hour drive. So I suggested, “why don't we just drive?” And that's what we ended up doing. And the team graciously put us up in the hotel for two nights in a town about seven miles away across the Connecticut border. 

Arriving in the City

And the drive was pretty easy, the hotel was nice, and our room was great! We got there Friday, because they weren't sure what time we were going to have to be at the theater on Saturday, so we got there Friday night. So we hit the town, going around shopping and stuff like that just to keep busy. 

An Exclusive Soundcheck Experience

The next day we drove into Port Chester, New York, which was about a seven mile drive, highways and stuff like that, but it wasn’t bad. We actually found a parking spot and got to go to the sound check, which was really lucky. We were pretty much the only ones there, except for all the tech people, and all these great musicians. 

All of the musicians were just in front of us, here and there on the stage, and they were having a good time. They were telling stories, joking around, and practicing how they were going to do this thing. It was Steve, Brandi Carlile, Barbara Glaspie–who played on our public radio station here in Philadelphia, WXPN–and the other two people I didn't know so much. But just to see these people, and to see the the creative part of putting together a basically a once-in-a-lifetime show like they were doing with the different people that they had. We got to hear a lot of the songs and hear how it worked and all that stuff. That was a good part of it. 

Our Fandiem representative, Grace, helped us through the whole process. She was really helpful, really nice. She got us into the sound check, told us what to expect, when to come back, and basically what was going to happen later on as well. Took care of all our needs. Managers came down and talked to us, Steve's manager came and talked to us. My wife actually brought some cookies, so they were happy and they thanked us for the cookies. We didn't actually see Steve until afterwards. The managers and all the people in there kept saying, “Whatever you need, it's fine.” So we're kind of treated like VIPs for the day, which was fun.

The Incredible Performance

We went to dinner in town, there's a Mexican place that has this Grateful Dead theme. There's all this Grateful Dead paraphernalia and the place was packed. So we went there, came back for the show, and had great seats. Steve mentioned the guitar from the stage; he talked about how this was a guitar he just set up just for the show and that he was going to give to some lucky winner. That was the first time that I really realized that was the guitar I was going home with. It was kind of difficult for me to actually stay in my seat. I was ready to stand up and say, “Hey, here I am!” but I managed not to. 

The show was just incredible, it's hard to describe. Having those great musicians all together, playing together, playing solo. Especially, not just seeing Steve Earle, seeing Brandi Carlile in an intimate situation like that. I mean, now she's basically a big star playing giant arenas and stadiums and things like that. And she has a hand in everything, she knows everybody. And Steve knows everybody. So the stories they were telling were pretty good, along with music.

Meeting Steve

And then afterwards, we waited around. There were a lot of other people waiting also. There were probably other people getting signed posters and meet and greets. But Steve came out with the guitar, shook our hand, and talked about the guitar a little bit. He showed me the controls and stuff on it. He said, “This is how I play it, this is how how I set it up.” And just to meet him and then get a signed poster as well. It was just a highlight of the night. And that was pretty much the rest of the experience. Back to the hotel for another night, and then drove back home the next day. 

The Specialness of Intimate Live Music

My wife and I have been together over 40 years, and one of the things that kept us together was going to see live music in small clubs. Seeing people who were not quite stars or who became stars later. And more people played small clubs then, and there were a lot more of them. Although they're starting to grow again, especially in Philadelphia, there's starting to be a lot more clubs and places for people to play. But the major acts are all just playing these big places you can't afford anymore. Going out was only like $10-$15, plus whatever drinks you had, You'd see somebody like Dave Alvin, and Steve probably played places like that. We had really small clubs in Philadelphia for a while. That's something that we've always enjoyed. So this was a real capper for a very different live experience than we'd had in the past. 

Memories to Last a Lifetime

Being able to have this guitar is so special to me. It’s just a thing of beauty. I mean, it sounds great, plays great. So this, I'll obviously have that forever. We have the signed poster as well. But just the fact that you can win these things, you have to keep trying. You might have to enter a lot of them, and I do. And usually for something I really want, and something not too far away. I think thats my most lasting takeaway. Again, just being a winner of something. It was cool. 

I wanted to mention Grace again, and the other people involved in Fandiem, they were very generous. The people at the Capitol Theatre as well, I’m sure they're used to this kind of thing, especially with a benefit. They probably have to do a lot more with benefits than with regular shows. There were a lot of people trying to hang around and get something signed or whatever, but they did a great job. And that was pretty much it, just all around really good job.

-Brett K. from Philadelphia, PA