Fame reduced to 3 seconds

There we are... the Blueberries... in our 3 second cameo in the live Rolling Stones DVD that was released on Tuesday! (My digital A/V skills and software tools are a bit lacking, hence the relatively low-tech "screen shot".) I figured we'd probably end up in it. We were on the front rail and standing next to someone in a motorized wheelchair. The cameras is looking for something interesting, something non-generic, and she got even more attention when she asked the concert promotors standing in the photo pit (the guys who brought this show to town also do the Austin City Limits Festival and Lollapalooza) if they were going to stand there for the whole show because they were blocking her view! It worked! They not only moved, they were very nice to her, bringing her guitar picks and making sure everything was OK for the rest of the show. Good for her!! Good for us too. I hate it when people block my view. More on the DVD and Austin.

It's become almost a joke that we keep turning up in concert videos. Back in 2004, my face appears for a couple of seconds on Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival video. Coincidentally, I show up right after Eric Johnson plays (my favorite guitar player! How could they have known? )

The last one where we got face time is Willie Nelson's Tsunami Relief (Austin to Asia) DVD. Again we were on the front rail, and standing next to someone in a motorized wheelchair! This time it was a celebrity, a local legend if you will, it was Liz Carpenter. She was at work on a book about Bobbie Nelson, Willie's sister who plays the piano. She wasn't familiar with all the performers who played that night, and after Joe Ely played she commented to us that she didn't know who he was but he sure did sweat a lot. Don't tell Joe she said that. It wasn't unkind, just an observation.

We turn up in the extra features of Los Lonely Boys Texican Style DVD, standing at the front of the crowd at Waterloo Records. Then there seem to be countless little preserved snippets in other concert videos or TV coverage where we know that's the back of our heads or my hand waving or something. I've decided that it's just our job. Need a couple of old-timers to be colorful in the front row of your live video? Just let us know. We'll squeeze you in somehow if you can squeeze us in. (and a tight squeeze it can be.)
;-)

Tags: Music - Austin - Rolling Stones - Clapton