TOMstock (the 3rd semi-annual…)

even after all this time, it feels a little weird to play a show called tomstock and know that i’m the “tom” in “tomstock”. it’s a little more attention than i’m generally used to, i guess.

my longtime friends jon and georgina rosenbaum started this tomstock thing some years ago, when i was still playing solo acoustic shows on a regular basis…and while it’s been too inconsistent to be considered an annual event, we’ve managed to do several of them over the years. at first blush, it’s essentially just a backyard picnic with some doofus with an acoustic guitar playing on the lawn. it goes a little deeper than that, though – it’s become something of a hybrid of a picnic, a family reunion, and an outdoor concert rolled into one event. essentially, a lot of the folks that i’ve gotten to know over the years who live in the vicinity of jon’s house in stamford, connecticut all come to jon’s for food, drink, and an outdoor concert featuring yours truly. but because so many of us got to know one another over bonding around some of our favorite bands through the years, i usually have a lot of fun picking songs for this show.

for this one, i didn’t bother to make a setlist…i never did before, and i didn’t see any reason to start now, really…generally, i just kinda play whatever pops into my head that feels like a good seque – so i did the same thing for this show.

the moment that made this particular tomstock stand out from the others, though, would’ve never happened if i’d remembered all the words to one particular song.

we’ve been playing jack sundrud‘s song hard country during the idlewheel shows, and i knew how to play it, but i wasn’t sure i’d remember all the words…but, obviously, i didn’t let that stop me.

i got through the first verse and the chorus, and started into the second verse, but i couldn’t remember the first line of the second verse. well, i played through the point where i’d normally have started singing, and then everyone who was there in the audience started singing the song themselves…they sang the whole second verse themselves while i played along.

it was, as they say, a moment.