Amtrak-ing it to DC I navigated the sucktastic DC Metro beautifully and only had to ride for one stop away! Walking the 7-10 minutes I spotted the synagogue with my friend (naturally) securing a front spot in line. It started drizzling lightly as we were finally let inside. There was no food or drink allowed so I BOLTED to the trash can at the end of the line to dispose and headed back up front. Upon entry our names were crossed off lists and books were handed to us. Immediately I flipped to the chapter where Carrie was interviewed. It was SO WEIRD she mentioned Delta 5 because that was the FIRST track I put on her cd even though that wasn't a concert we went to. Just a really catchy tune and bumping bass. Inside we secured seats in the front row and sat to the left of the microphone. It's funny because during parts of the interview you can hear our laughs magnified. Which brings me to my next part, I am not going into details of the book talk because you can simply watch the whole thing here.
We took many pictures. As soon as Carrie sat across from us before heading up to the stage P was snapping away. Our goal was to get some of Carrie laughing. Success. I did not take many videos, just a quick snippet of Carrie answering an audience member's question. The stage was not level so I had to awkwardly hold up my phone. In the beginning of the talk as Bob played some of his favorite songs as we bopped along to The Beatles. My friend claimed Carrie was looking right at me and smiled. I did not notice this! The thing I enjoyed most about the talk was how Bob got the audience involved and surveyed us asking questions about how we discover music, how we listen to music, etc. Any music lover would enjoy this talk. I STILL have yet to read the book but plan on doing so soon. He interviews Jenny Lewis, Annie Clark, etc. My Pearl Jam friends would be happy to know Annie's favorite song is "Jeremy."
Afterwards we stood in Bob's line for him to sign our book. Just before we were about to approach him it was decided to give him the extra copy of our mix, that I'd just make P another one. Good call. Bob's copy had a Le Butcherettes picture on the front. He was very friendly and complimented our shirts. Bob made a lot of eye contact with us during the talk so I think he was trying to figure out what our shirts said as he asked us this approaching the table. He signed my book "Hope you find your inspiration." Very cool. We asked him if he knew of Sheer Mag that the band is blowing up and hail from Philly. Bob knew the band and said he frequents Philly for shows and events a lot. He was really cool and laid back.
Next to Bob was an empty chair but no Carrie. We kind of stopped mid-stage waiting but were immediately questioned by people running the event what we were doing and how we should form a line on the other side of the stage. People then started to talk crap saying Carrie left and wasn't returning and we knew she only stepped out for a minute! People need to chill. As soon as Carrie walked up to the stage and sat at the table next to Bob, she instantly snagged our mix cd we gave Bob and was perusing the tracks! Like teenage fan girls we nudged elbows and were like "She's checking out our cd! Little does she know we made one for her!" Approaching the steps it was almost as if we were cornered by security. Two women who were running the event looked at us like we were aliens since we didn't have books for Carrie to sign. P was like "We don't have books for Carrie to sign. We made her something can we just quickly give it to her?" There was no response. P explained again and then said "Or if you would just give this to her for us" and the one girl was like "Ok. You want me to give this to her?" and was about to reach for the cd but as she did that Carrie had this look on her face like "What?!" and motioned with both hands to us like "come on up here!!" The conversation kind of went as follows because it's still a blur and I'm still not over we had legit convo with her....
P: Hi Carrie *introduces self*
Me: Hi Carrie *introduces self*
P: We both saw you in Philly and already have signed copies of your book but just wanted to give this to you really quick.
Me: *hands Carrie cd* It's so weird because you mentioned Delta 5 during the talk tonight and in Bob's book. We put one of their songs as the first track on your cd! But all of these tracks *points to them nervously like Carrie is blind and can't see* are of concerts P and I went to together these past few months. You talk about music and connection, P and I met in March at one concert and we've become great friends and go to all the shows together.
Carrie: *smiles and looks really amused* That's awesome! That's really cool. *looks at other things we handed her and picks up the "Hello Carrie!" card with a Fugazi pin and Run the Jewels patch. Now this! *she smirks and holds it out facing us* This is pretty awesome! *I am basically dead at this point*
Me: You're welcome! *ladies who are running the thing are giving us looks like "Get off the stage!*
Carrie: *eyes up the last thing we give her which is a Julien Baker cd* Her! I've heard about her! Wasn't she at SXSW? Didn't NPR do an article on her recently?
Me: *gets nervous bc I should've done more homework* Yes. She's only 18! *correction, she's 20 I kept insistently telling Carrie she's 18* There's a lot of buzz about her. I saw her in New York last week at Bowery Ballroom and she put on a phenomenal show. Her songs are really deep.
Carrie: Tell me more about her. What's her story? Isn't she out? *ladies are really giving us GET THE FUCK OFF THE STAGE look and we are dying because Carrie keeps talking to us*
Me: Yeah she's out. I think she came from a religious background and suffered through really hard times, got into drugs. But...she turned it around and found a place in music.
Carrie: *smirks and looks amused*
Me: She's an old soooouuuul *says matter of factly*
Carrie: *smirks*
P: We don't want to take up any more of your time but it was really great talking to you.
Me: Yes!
Carrie: Thank you so much! It was nice seeing you both again.
I think I bit lip so hard on the way down the stairs because she remembered us! And both of us met her at different times during that book talk, P before the talk and me afterwards. Neither of us asked for pictures and we were all told ahead of time no pictures. I asked P why she didn't punch my arm since I dominated the conversation and she said it was okay that she was at a loss of words. We freaked out over this the whole way home claiming Carrie legit wanted to talk with us, the women were annoyed with us but Carrie kept making conversation with us. Carrie instagrammed a photo of the event not too long after the event. I just randomly commented on it "Thanks for talking to P and I! We hope you enjoy the Julien Baker and our cd" *heart emoji. Not even ten minutes later she responded back "Thanks for the card and cds. It was nice talking to you both" *double heart emoji* So this made our night. That and the awesome Sleater-Kinney / Wild Flag sing-along in the car at 1am. This picture on the right proves how dorky I am. Someone randomly took this picture of Carrie that night and you can clearly see our cd we gave to Bob right near her and then near her wine glass the pile of things we gave her. The following day I told P to spam me with all her Carrie pictures from the talk. Here are some of our favorites and I turned a few of my favorites into a collage. This was a day I will NEVER FORGET thanks to Carrie.
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