I first saw Dar’s video on Country Music Television, of all places, late at night. They played Cool As I Am and I was intrigued by the quirky lyrics and the fresh, original message. I was hooked. When I stayed up late at night, I’d always channel-surf to CMT to check if they were playing Dar. One or two times I got lucky, and I would scramble to tape the video for my best friend, Ashley, to see.
After high school, Dar actually came to play my little town, which has a concert hall under our historic clock tower, and so has an annual series of concerts called “Folk Under The Clock”. They typically bring in performers like Garnet Rogers, Stephen Fearing, Oscar Lopez and Blackie And The Rodeo Kings. One January they brought Dar and I got two tickets for Christmas.
My first encounter was in the bathroom. I showed up very early, and as I was washing my hands in the old-fashioned ladies’ room with its wooden stalls, Dar walked in, smiled at me, and said; “Hi!” I can’t even remember if I said hi or not, I was so flummoxed. I do remember that I practically ran out of there, since hearing Dar Williams pee was just not something I felt I could handle.
After the wonderful show (as an encore, she popped into one wing to slip on a “Canadian Girls Kick Ass” t-shirt, and sang O Canada Girls), Dar met everyone in the lobby and signed autographs. She was sweet, warm, funny and completely approachable. I asked her for a hug and she gave me a real bear hug, not one of those “let’s stand a foot apart, bend over, and touch shoulders” abominations that pass for hugs in these cynical times.
Oh yeah, and her music is pretty good too. I’ll post more about that if there is any interest in this thread.