I talked to Andrew Bird!

Andrew Bird is playing Stuart's Opera House on Monday, and in preparation of the review I'll be writing about it for the Insider I decided to play prestige reporter and land an interview with Mr. Bird himself. So a couple of weeks ago I e-mailed his publicist asking if this would be possible. She e-mailed back and said she would check with him and get back to me. After e-mailing her another 3 times after that, however, I hadn't heard back from the publicist regarding the possible interview.

So then yesterday I was eating at Bob Evan's with Katie when I got a phone call from someone with a 212 area code. I let it go to voicemail because I don't answer strange phone calls. I was confused when my phone buzzed that I had a new voicemail - I had assumed it was a wrong number. I listened to the message and alas, it was Andrew Bird's publicist. She said, "Hey Sam, sorry this is short notice, but I wanted to let you know that Andrew is free for the next 2 to 3 hours if you wanted to interview him."

After I listened to that message, I couldn't eat the rest of my food. I was excited, but it was startling how nervous I became. Let me clarify: Andrew Bird is one of my favorite musicians and has been ever since Madeline introduced him to me. His latest album, 'Armchair Apocrypha,' is, I believe, one of the best albums released this year. He has folksy sound, but adds classical elements to it with violin that produces stunningly beautiful indie alternative music. It is really gorgeous stuff.

The reason I became nervous is that I hadn't prepared, obviously, and I was afraid that I would come across as some stupid little jackass reporter who asked all the same questions that everybody asks. As a fan of his, I wanted to impress him, but now I only had a short amount of time to figure out how to do so.

I've had this problem as an entertainment reporter before. I let the allure of certain acts' fame overcome me, and I feel like I'm practically graveling at their feet when I talk to them (famous people I've talked to so far: Jeff Garlin, Bobby Valentino, David Banner, Vanilla Ice, Andrew Bird). I don't know why it is, but the fact that they're famous makes me consider myself inferior somehow, and I focus on how I make them like me. It's like elementary school all over again, when you're face to face with the coolest kid in school.

So anyway, I went home, prepared a (long) list of questions, called Madeline so she could come listen in, and an hour later was ready for the call. I called Amy, his publicist, who said he was ready to go, and she called Andrew's cell and put him on with me. "Hi, Andrew? How are you doing?" I said - I mean, what else could I say? "Good, how are you?" he replied. Holy crap, Andrew Bird is talking to me! This is seriously the thought that was going through my head. I kept my composure and continued with the interview.

Here's what sucked: at the time, Andrew was driving through Kansas on his way to a show in Kansas City. His reception sucked. So we had a 15 minute conversation, and half of it I couldn't even make out. We even got disconnected once. His soft-spokenness didn't help. I was so frustrated - here I am, talking to THE Andrew Bird, wanting to transcribe the interview and publish it in the newspaper, and I can hardly understand a word he says. I kept trucking through, though, and in the end got some okay quotes that I should be able to use in my review of his concert. And when I think about it, I just think, "I got to talk to Andrew Bird." That made it all worthwhile, that I talked to him, he talked back to me (even called me by name once - holy crap Andrew Bird just said my name to me!) and I can now tell everyone that I had that experience. Even though reception sucked, the experience was still one I'll remember forever.

I know now, though, that if I want to be serious about my entertainment journalism, I can't ever let myself create a superiority complex about famous people. They are human, just like me. And they can get bad reception on their cell phones, just like me.