Subject: (TVZ) Digest Number 586 From: TheHighwayKind@yahoogroups.com Date: 4 Sep 2004 14:49:47 -0000 ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 2 Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 13:19:06 +0200 From: "Aleksandar Lazarevic" Subject: http://www.fearofspeed.net/jessesykes.html Here's just an excerpt from interview with Jesse Sykes published in Feer of Speed e-zine. She's talking how TVZ changed her life. Link is in subject so you can read entire interview if you want. Aleksandar FEAR OF SPEED: Hey, same hair. Naturally she's an influence. JESSE: I love Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, but there's so much more. I love Townes van Zandt. When he sings, it's like you're inside the song. I was just walking down the street near here, and there's this piece of sidewalk where I met Townes van Zandt. And almost every day I walk over it, and I think "how weird that he was right here". And meeting him really changed my life. FEAR OF SPEED: In what way? JESSE: Well, a friend of mine at the time said "you gotta come see Townes van Zandt". And me and my ex-husband went, and the show was great. But it was kind of weird too, because a lot of people were heckling him. And I didn't understand that at all. And when he finished the show, he got up and knocked his microphone stand over, and was shaking. Really had the DT's. Later on, we were all standing around outside the club, and he came out and just walked right up to us. He was holding two Diet Pepsis, which I'll never forget. You know, when you're so skinny, why would you have Diet Pepsi instead of regular Pepsi? (laughs) We started talking, and he was the warmest, most loving man I ever met. He said "Honey, if you're gonna be folk singer, you're going to have to sacrifice everything. It's not an easy life. And you're going to have to cut your fingernails." FEAR OF SPEED: Good advice. JESSE: But it wasn't patronizing at all. I wasn't really aware then of how important he was, but it was obvious that even though he was aware of the mythology surrounding him, he was still so warm and open. When I asked him when he'd be coming back, he said "Honey, I don't expect I'll be back." He knew how sick he was. And he started to get tears in his eyes. People started to all say goodnight, and he hugged me, and just kept holding on. And I felt this river going through me. I can't really explain it. Just pure love. He was such an open soul. Not afraid to be vulnerable, and not afraid to show love to strangers. And where do you find that these days, that openness? Maybe drunks on the street. That's it. So he started walking away from us, facing us. He was walking backwards, holding his two Diet Pepsis. And he was singing "Take It Easy" by the Eagles to us, and then just disappeared around the corner into the dark. I think he was waiting for us to invite him along for coffee or something, and I wish we had. Long story short, I had been going through a really bad depression at the time, and that night I felt like I had fallen in love or something. Not in a romantic sense, really. But when he left I felt like I had lost a piece of myself. I know that sounds very melodramatic, but I've only had that happen a few times in my whole life. Another time was out in the desert, I was with some bikers, and when they left, as much as they felt like kindred spirits, I just knew I'd never see them again. Townes died that next winter. My husband at the time gave me every one of Townes' records on vinyl, and I remember laying on the couch listening to them one day while my husband and my mother were out taking a walk, and feeling this profound sadness, and knowing he was going to die soon. And the next week the news came that he died. And that experience is what got me feeling that music was what I really needed to be doing. It made everything easier somehow. I made a lot of changes. My marriage came to an end, I found a deeper part of myself. Really, whatever that man put into my heart that day has never left. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 3 Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 09:59:34 +0100 From: "lawson skuse" Subject: Re: http://www.fearofspeed.net/jessesykes.html Thanks, Aleks Possibly the most moving thing I have read this whole year! I tell you this; If a good writer reads that interview then there is basis for a whole novel, not just a song! "He touched me and took something and gave something too" Better writers than I can finish this. The wierd thing is that I was listening to "Waiting around to die" from the first album. I had not played this in weeks! Lawson (with tears in his eyes) Here's just an excerpt from interview with Jesse Sykes published in Feer of Speed e-zine. She's talking how TVZ changed her life. Link is in subject so you can read entire interview if you want. Aleksandar FEAR OF SPEED: Hey, same hair. Naturally she's an influence. JESSE: I love Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, but there's so much more. I love Townes van Zandt. When he sings, it's like you're inside the song. I was just walking down the street near here, and there's this piece of sidewalk where I met Townes van Zandt. And almost every day I walk over it, and I think "how weird that he was right here". And meeting him really changed my life. FEAR OF SPEED: In what way? JESSE: Well, a friend of mine at the time said "you gotta come see Townes van Zandt". And me and my ex-husband went, and the show was great. But it was kind of weird too, because a lot of people were heckling him. And I didn't understand that at all. And when he finished the show, he got up and knocked his microphone stand over, and was shaking. Really had the DT's. Later on, we were all standing around outside the club, and he came out and just walked right up to us. He was holding two Diet Pepsis, which I'll never forget. You know, when you're so skinny, why would you have Diet Pepsi instead of regular Pepsi? (laughs) We started talking, and he was the warmest, most loving man I ever met. He said "Honey, if you're gonna be folk singer, you're going to have to sacrifice everything. It's not an easy life. And you're going to have to cut your fingernails." FEAR OF SPEED: Good advice. JESSE: But it wasn't patronizing at all. I wasn't really aware then of how important he was, but it was obvious that even though he was aware of the mythology surrounding him, he was still so warm and open. When I asked him when he'd be coming back, he said "Honey, I don't expect I'll be back." He knew how sick he was. And he started to get tears in his eyes. People started to all say goodnight, and he hugged me, and just kept holding on. And I felt this river going through me. I can't really explain it. Just pure love. He was such an open soul. Not afraid to be vulnerable, and not afraid to show love to strangers. And where do you find that these days, that openness? Maybe drunks on the street. That's it. So he started walking away from us, facing us. He was walking backwards, holding his two Diet Pepsis. And he was singing "Take It Easy" by the Eagles to us, and then just disappeared around the corner into the dark. I think he was waiting for us to invite him along for coffee or something, and I wish we had. Long story short, I had been going through a really bad depression at the time, and that night I felt like I had fallen in love or something. Not in a romantic sense, really. But when he left I felt like I had lost a piece of myself. I know that sounds very melodramatic, but I've only had that happen a few times in my whole life. Another time was out in the desert, I was with some bikers, and when they left, as much as they felt like kindred spirits, I just knew I'd never see them again. Townes died that next winter. My husband at the time gave me every one of Townes' records on vinyl, and I remember laying on the couch listening to them one day while my husband and my mother were out taking a walk, and feeling this profound sadness, and knowing he was going to die soon. And the next week the news came that he died. And that experience is what got me feeling that music was what I really needed to be doing. It made everything easier somehow. I made a lot of changes. My marriage came to an end, I found a deeper part of myself. Really, whatever that man put into my heart that day has never left. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ "Without music life would be an error....." Friedrich Nietzsche Post message: TheHighwayKind@yahoogroups.com To change your mail preferences go to 'Edit My Membership' on the Group homepage at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheHighwayKind To join a Steve Earle discussion group go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Exit0_2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------