Wayfarer

After Greg pulled me into the bathroom of the dimly lit downstairs bar, and after Mike found me positioning myself TOWARDS the door as to not witness the happenings of a men's bathroom, I had a conversation I'll never forget. I felt, for a minute, that I was being grilled by this man about how I knew about the concert, how I knew Gabriel Mann (future blog post needed), consequently how I knew Zack Hexum (another future blog post needed), and how I was enjoying the concert. He offered little information in return, but instead took a picture of Mike, Greg, and I (again, horribly embarrassed by the picture so don't expect to see it), and then told me to sit tight while he got me one of his CDs. "Cool," I thought to myself, "another musician! Another free CD!" He told me that he would be playing a set the next night, and, not knowing what his music sounded like, I didn't know if I'd be dying to hear it.

I hurriedly kissed Mike goodnight (for the last time, ever), blitzed to my car, and in the wee hours of the morning, fumbled to unwrap the CDs and put in his CD for my 20 minute drive home. Having only briefly talked to him, I only knew that he was a musician, a good photographer, beyond handsome, and his name was Jay Nash. (Could his parents have picked a better name for a musician? Catchy!) His music, however, was more than unexpected. Jay looked like just another musician that had played that night. Typical So. Cal. style. I thought he'd fit right into the typical Indie music scene. Boy was I wrong. There was real depth to this music. The words. The music. The voice.

After a few hours of sleep, I prepared for yet another day in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival. The stars of the films were out in full force and I couldn't have cared less (People, this is the correct phrase. It's not "I could care less".....COULDN'T). My celebrities, my musicians, were everywhere. Plus it was colder than I dressed for so I was half way numb and I'm sure my eyes were frozen so I couldn't see more than, oh, 15 feet ahead of me. I mean, it was REALLY cold! After wandering around on my own for a while, I met up with an old college friend. In fact he was my FIRST college friend, aside from roommates, and is still one of my favorite people to this day. Anyway, Jordan Dayton is a big music fan, too, and brought up some friends from Provo. We stood in line outside the lounge and took turns holding my steaming cut of peppermint herb tea, and as I was the only one wearing an actual winter coat, we huddled together trying to not catch hypothermia. About an hour AFTER the venue was supposed to let us in, we finally thawed (People, this is the correct term. It's not "de-thawed"!!!!!!). Jay's set was more impressive than his CD, and his Tom Selleck T-shirt was even MORE impressive. I had a new music love. And he was pretty.

Jay came back to visit a few weeks later to a slightly emptier lounge for a show, and being a lucky fan, I got my shout out across the bar for my favorite song. I felt special.

Later that summer, while on tour, he conveniently made another trip to Park City for a show on my birthday. I'd suggested that he do a show on August 10th, a show was booked, and I'd like to think that I'm just THAT special...but the truth is, it was probably more coincidence than anything. I had a small and fun group of friends, and my sister, Lindsay, in attendance and as exposure to gain more fans. Lindsay has become a "fan" and has even attended a show at Kilby Court with me and her hubby. She sweet talked Jay into doing a rendition of "Happy Birthday" for me and it was a pretty sweet night.

It's been years and his tours through here are not as often as I'd like, but I'm grateful that when he does pass through, and when my schedule permits, that I get to see and hear this man. I'm even more grateful when he, like last time at Kilby Court, walks in and scans the room, walks my way, and gives his Utah fan a hug.

I really struggled with what video to put on here because I love so many of his songs, so check him out!

Jay and I @ my birthday concert

Watch, listen, and love!