How I Met Todd (Three Times) - Scott Murphy - 3/25/07

Well, the term "met" is an interesting word. Obviously, most folks think
of it in a literal sense, but I think folks who have a
stronger-than-average connection with music can use the term
differently.
I first "met" Todd while going to college and delivering flowers in
Jonesboro, Ark., back in 1994. Todd was getting some notoriety after
having signed a record deal in Memphis, which didn't happen often, then
or now, to Memphis guys. I worked every afternoon and listened to the
Memphis afternnon radio show on the Eagle.
As it happened, Todd was friends with Zeke and Drake, the afternoon
Eagle disc jockey team. They had Todd in the studio one day and were
playing "All Right Guy," and "Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues," both
songs that I was familiar with thanks to Zeke and Drake. I thought the
songs were hilarious. But then they had Todd in the studio and they were
talking about Todd's recent tour. The conversation went something like
this:
Drake: "Hey Todd, you just got back from Europe, right?
Todd: "Yep. We went to England, France, Amsterdam, Rome ..."
Drake: "Wait a minute. You were in Amsterdam Todd?"
Todd: "Oh yeah."
Drake: (Laughing) How were THOSE shows Todd?
Todd: "I don't remember them, but I bet they were weird."
Needless to say, I almost wrecked the flower-delivery van as I laughed
my head off.
But, that was that. I didn't buy his records, didn't get to see any
concerts or nothing and Todd drifted from my musical awareness. I moved
out West in 1997 and didn't think anymore about Todd.
That was the first time I "met" Todd Snider.

Flash ahead to 2004 and I'm living in Idaho. I'm a huge Grateful Dead
fan and I trade a ton of cds online with people from all over the
country. I get a chance to do a trade with a guy in North Carolina and
he has a huge list of cds, including many Todd Snider shows. I think to
myself, "Wow, that guy's still around? The Memphis guy? I've got to hear
some of that." Well, a few weeks later, in comes 11-17-00. The next few
weeks found me listening to that concert over and over ... I was
thinking "Man, when I go to sleep on something, it really takes off."
That was the second time I "met" Todd Snider and the "meeting"
continues.

So now in the past three years, I've been reading and listening to
everything about Todd I can find. I've become a big fan. To wit, after a
long wait for Todd to hit the Mountain West I got a chance to see him in
March 2007 in Idaho and Utah. Knowing that Todd frequently has his
"drinkin' buddy" Jeff Austin play with him in Denver and having a close
friend there as well, I took some time off work and got a plane ticket
to Colorado.
Well, I didn't get to see him in Boulder, but after the Denver show I
was talking to Elvis about what I'd missed. The start time was listed
wrong ... we're hanging out and talking to some folks and trying to
figure out what song Jeff Austin had sung, here comes Todd. He had a bag
in his right hand, so I held out my left and shook hands and Todd
skulked into the Denver night with Austin trailing behind. It had been a
fun night.
And that's how after 13 years one night in Denver, a Memphis singer from
Oregon who had been to Amsterdam and then got famous met an Arkansas
dude who delievered flowers and listened to the radio before he moved to
Idaho and traded cds with a guy from North Carolina.