I had just returned from a year in Germany and after speaking almost exclusively in German for an entire year, my English was coming out with a German accent. So much, in fact, that people who didn't know me questioned if I was actually German. This made me really happy. We were at... Mike S's house (i think) watching a movie, squished into the sofa. There were at least 4 of us all nestled in, I remember specifically Erik P and Nic P. We got on the topic of music and I brought up Mr Jones. Nic was so tickled by my pronunciation of the song that he became known as Mr Jones (to me and to me alone).
A few years later my friend Kevin A invited me to the Counting Crows show at the Greek in Berkeley. I could've actually listened to the show from my dorm room window, but being AT the show was obviously very different. To be honest, I wasn't a very big fan of the band, but who am I to turn down a free ticket with one of my favorite friends? So I went. Adam Duritz is from Berkeley and I had heard he was at LaVal's in Northside prior to the show which I thought was really cool. What I thought was less cool was that throughout the show he was teetering on the edge of the stage and I was concerned he might fall off. Then to top things off, when they played Mr Jones, it was a stripped down, slow version. In other words, the one song I was familiar with was almost unrecognizable. I actually spent the majority of the show staring up into the heavens at the Hale Bopp Comet, which was in full glory in the night sky.
I'm going to see the Counting Crows tonight and something tells me it's going to be a completely different experience from top to bottom. I cannot wait.
