a classic of old.

in the not-so-distant past i had the opportunity to see one of my fave bands: the classic crime. it was the first time i was seeing them live and i was pretty stoked on it. i met up at the show with another tcc lover, we soaked in the entire show from the screams when they stepped on stage to the "thank you and good night."
after the show we milled around watching the crowd get autographs and pictures. about this time, matt, the lead singer of the classic crime wandered by. we started chatting and i thanked him for playing "salt in the snow"- a song that i was obsessed with for a solid 2 months. he said he was taking all the credit cause the other guys in the band didn't want to play it and he pulled his "front man rank" and made them. i was glad he made that executive decision! we made a bit more small talk and he was pulled away by another fan. seems like a pretty standard encounter yes? fan gushes, rock star takes it in stride, we all move on with life. awesome.
what made this particular conversation interesting is how matt greeted me and bid me farewell....both with a bow. a palms together, knees locked, head bent, fold at the waist, bow.it was a pretty humbling experience actually, i have never been bowed to before and don't foresee it happening anytime again in the future but it struck a chord in me. bowing can be a sign of a lot of things including submission, gratitude, and sincerity. here was the one that everyone in the room had put on a pedestal bowing to an excited fan. now maybe he's just a germ-a-phobe and didn't want to shake hands with everyone but it showed his humanity. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that musicians (along with athletes, actors, politicians, etc) get elevated to god-like statuses in our culture and matt's simple gesture of a bow immediately reminded me (and maybe himself) that he's just a dude. he was grateful that people had come out to watch him do the thing he loves and showed his appreciation in an age old way. it proved he knows he is no better than you or me just because he gets to do what a lot of people dream of doing and that he knows he couldn't do what he does without the support of fans buying cd's and coming to shows.
hopefully this post is a reminder to those who read it to be genuinely thankful for everything you have in life and know that you are no better or worse than anyone else. maybe an act of submission would do some of us good, put us in our place so to speak. and maybe being on the receiving end would help others realize just how valuable they are.
xo
ps. i think i'm honestly going to take up bowing