A Slightly Embarrassing Life Spent Being Awestruck by Musicians

(NB: Wrote this post over the weekend, so phrases like "last night" and "tonight" should be read as if it were now still Sunday night. Just, you know, if you really care!)


Last night, I came home with my mind spinning from hanging out all night with people who knew Jeff Buckley. Not to mention still know some of the singers I admire most.

Tonight, after hanging out with the same crowd again, I came home with an even happier realization – I love being reminded that the people who render me starstruck (yes, it's generally musicians) are also just people. Who may in fact want to sit down and have a conversation after the show just as much as you do.


Here's where the story starts:

I've mentioned the Sofa Salon before – it's a monthly series of concerts, run by an Australian woman and hosted in a different person's living room each time. (Or even in a bedroom, perhaps the bedroom of a very forgiving housemate... One memorable time, the performer said, "I've played house concerts before, but I've never before played on a bed!")

The Sofa Salon hosts a mix of styles, though there's definitely a strong lean toward one-guy/gal-and-a-guitar. The musicians come from both Berlin and all over, and the performances consistently range somewhere between good and amazing.

This time, when the Sofa Salon email landed in my inbox, I recognized a name: Mark Geary, an Irish musician formerly known to me only as "that guy who always seems to open for Glen Hansard."

Sofa salon and a musician connected to some of my favorite singer-songwriters? Obviously a must-see.


The Sofa Salon, on Saturday, was actually three performers: Ned Collette, Mark Geary and Ben Salter. All different, all great songwriters.

(Interestingly, two of the three mentioned how nerve-wracking it was, even for seasoned performers, to play in this intimate living room setting, with the audience right there at their feet. Or as Mark later put it: That silent, intent listening is exactly what you hope for from an audience, that the chatter in the room dies down as everyone's attention is drawn toward you. But it's bizarre to walk into a room and have that intense focus already there...and you haven't even done anything yet.)

Here's a nice example video of Mark, singing his song "Volunteer" at the legendary Club Passim in Boston:

At the end of the sofa salon, Sam, who organizes the concerts, said, "Let's all go down to the bar!"

Which is how I found myself sitting all evening next to Mark (used to play at Sin-é with Jeff Buckley; part of the same crowd as Josh Ritter, Glen Hansard, Lisa Hannigan & co, because all Irish musicians know each other, of course), chatting with him and Sam (who recently tracked down my favorite Icelandic singer for me, because of course Sam has a friend who runs a music festival in Iceland and knows the singer in question...but that's another story) and two other women who also manage performers and concerts in other parts of Germany (one of whom also knew Jeff Buckley).

Have I mentioned that I get slightly ridiculous when musicians are involved? Celebrities, movie stars – I can take 'em or leave 'em. But put me in a room with a musician and I melt.

It doesn't really matter if they're famous. It matters that they're talented at music, at singing and writing songs.

You better believe I went home thinking, Oh no, how many mortifying things came out of my mouth just now, as I was trying and failing not to be completely starstruck?


Tonight, same performer, same crowd. And apparently I was forgiven for the way my mouth doesn't filter anything my brain offers it when in the presence of musicians, because after the concert, we all sat around talking about music, and how performing stays fresh and thrilling despite doing it every night, and whether or not it's a cop out to like singing other people's songs better than the songs I try to write myself... and how soon is too soon for a touring performer to come back to Berlin!