A bit of trivia:
- Delta 1539 -- Nonstop flight Departure: 6:58pm from Cincinnati, OH.
(CVG).
Arrival: 7:35pm in Little Rock, AR. (LIT)
However, this flight was "created" to fit the meter of the song "Out in
the Country". It didn't actually exist in real life.
- Some facts about "Peaches":
The line, "Didn't you laugh when the
man exploded?" is not based on that Monty Python skit (as I thought)
but is based upon a scene from Thelma &
Louise, where the name "Peaches" is also used as a
codeword.
- The song "Following My Compass" from Be Careful What You Wish
For was originally written as a gift from Kristen to her
therapist.
The following were made available by Nancy who transcribed them from
the November shows at Eddies:
- Way back when she was first starting out, Kristen went to her boss's
house to record a song. Her boss owned a futon shop and had a recording
studio in his basement. It just so happened that the Indigo Girls were
also recording their EP there. The IG s heard Kristen song, liked it, and
started covering it during their show. They played the song at the
Bluebird Cafe in Nashville where another duo heard it and wanted to record
it. They went back to Kristen and told her Sweethearts of the Rodeo
wanted to record her song. Kristen with her blue hair predrug treatment
persona declared that no group like that was gonna record one of her
songs! The Sweethearts of the Rodeo CD won a Grammy that year. But as
Kristen observed, it was probably a good thing cause "If I'd had any
money, I probably would've died."
- Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls took an active interest in Kristen's
career. Kristen was working as a guitar tech for the IG s at the time.
Amy took Kristen "bitchin and kickin" and a shopping bag full of lyrics
over to Michelle Malone's house because Amy thought Michelle and Kristen
could write songs together. It appears that not only was Amy correct but
Michelle and Kristen enjoy a friendship to this day.
- The song "All The Same To You" is about a creepy drunk guy that
showed up every week at the Little Five Points Pub and asked her "Have you
written a song about me yet?" Kristen was drunk one day, had no
other inspiration, so finally wrote a song about him. She was never sure
he was ever sober enough to actually have heard the song!
- "Out In The Country" was written about a relationship
that Kristen had started with someone from upstate New York. Kristen went
to visit her friend, saying in retrospect, "I stayed four weeks, when I
should've stayed 5 days." Her friend was a vegan, so there was no meat,
no cheese, no dairy products at all. Kristen noted that ironically, when
you can't have something, you start craving it, even if it's something you
never really wanted before. Kristen started craving milk and cheese
during her visit. So she made a deal with the local pizza delivery guy to
slip her some cheese each time she saw him about town and she would get
him free tickets to the local music shows. She said she told him to act
like he didn't know her so her friend wouldn't suspect anything. She'd
see the guy and he'd whisper behind his hand to his friends 'that's my
music contact'. Needless to say, the relationship with the friend didn't
last beyond the visit. But Kristen could probably still hang out with the
pizza guy.
- In 1989 Kristen went with the Indigo Girls to Europe as their guitar
tech. They were supposed to go everywhere by train but there was train
strike so the band traveled around in Bentleys. Kristen wasn't
comfortable in those so she started riding with the sound guy, Howie, in
his truck. Howie became a good friend and they took a sidetrip thru Great
Britain together. Howie taught her how to roll cigarettes, they saw a
UFO, and drank New Castle beer straight from the keg. (She didn't
indicate if the UFO sighting was before or after the beer tasting!) Her
experience with Howie is recorded in her song by that name. (This is a
great song to hear at Eddie's because Eddie Owen, the owner, will
occasionally come out and sing with her.)
- When Kristen writes, sometimes a phase or melody will stick
in her head until she writes a song using them. She had one such melody
rolling around in her head along with the name Ferdinand Magellan. She
didn't know anything about Magellan except that he was an explorer. So
she called the only friend she knew with a set of encyclopedias and asked
what was there on Magellan. The friend said it only mentions that he
crossed the Atlantic without charts. Kristen responded "That's enough"
and went on to write "Following My Compass" with background vocals and
guitar work by Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls. Another note on this
song: Last month, the day before Kristen moved to LA, she played at
Eddie's and sang this song at the first show. However, when it was
requested for the second show, Kristen said she couldn't play it because
she had soften all the calluses on her fingers from scrubbing her
apartment and it hurt too much. Not many musicians have used that excuse.
:)
- In her last show, Kristen included some musings on life in LA. She
reflected that the "grandmas look like aliens, they've had so many
facelifts", that if LA did break off into the ocean there was no reason to
worry because there's so much Styrofoam around and in the ocean that LA
would just float away, and that some of her friends wanted her to surf but
the closest she was getting was the blue surfer shirt she had on.
- Kristen ended a great show by thanking the audience for a wonderful 15
years in Atlanta and that she hopes everyone won't forget her when she
comes back next time.
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