me and all my un-faded charms

this is a story that must be told.

another annoyingly endless night in the box, but somehow i'm pushing through as i listen to the new rufus album for the millionth time since i bought it on tuesday morning. it's impossible to describe how much i love this man and his music. if there's one thing in the world i despise it's people that constantly say "i knew about [insert artist name here] before anyone else!! so i'm cool!!" in the case of rufus and myself, however, this is 100% absolutely true and i will shout it from the rooftops. perhaps i'm more sensitive than most because i was on the super-slow train with my other favorite musical act (DMB) or perhaps it's because rufus fans are so insanely obsessive it's hard to distinguish myself from all the pretty gay boys that constantly profess their love for him. whatever the case, the events of the last two years have solidified my absolute devotion to the man, and i truly believe no other artist will ever impact my life the way he has, and continues to do. including DMB.

the story of rufus and i began in march of 1999 just as his debut album was released. a simple twist of fate kept me up one night in my dorm room watching VH1 and i remember being completely distracted from a paper when "april fools" came on the screen. i watched it several more times that night and then again later with friends. i bought the CD that same week from best buy, and if my memory's serving me well i didn't stop take it out of my car for several weeks. i couldn't make the 9.30 show the following week but i trekked up to maryland to fletcher's where he played for a humble crowd of several hundred, (imogen heap opened)... we positioned ourselves inches from his piano and my only disappointment of the evening was when he only looked up to acknowledge the cute boy standing on my right. *sigh* :)

from there i saw him several more times as he continued to promote his first two albums. my first one-on-one with the man himself occured in 2001 (or perhaps 2000?) in the greenroom at the 930, where sarah got to witness my raging stupidity and near-inability to talk. even if i didn't have a picture i would still remember his exact outfit and kind words despite my nervousness. sometime after poses, however, rufus seemed to disappear. i would catch the occasional TV appearance, but in all honestly our relationship fell on the backburner as other boys (ben, jude and pete specifically) distracted me with new, wonderful albums. i remember yusef giving me a press release for "want one" just before it came out, and i was definitely underwhelmed. i was glad new rufus was coming out, but i didn't *love* poses the way i *loved* the debut, so i was skeptical about the future of rufus and i....

but then in september of 2003, i made my way to plan9 and purchased the album that would change my life perhaps more than any other album ever. from the opening chords of "oh what a world" i realized i'd been a fool to ever doubt the magic. the only thing i can compare it to is seeing an old love after several years and suddenly realizing you'd never stopped loving them. sure, there'd been other people in your life while they were away, but the love was always there, and the prospect of making new memories is so incredibly exciting you can't understand how you'd survived without them. once i heard of the struggles rufus had endured inbetween poses and want one, i only loved the album that much more. i traveled to c'ville with tray-z to see the opening of the tour, and one of the first performances rufus had in quite a while and that night i knew DMB was in danger of staying my #1 favorite.

TBC....

"but when the rocket ships all fall
and the bridges they all buckle
and everybody's packing up their station wagons
there's a number you can call
like a breast you can suckle
and we quietly will exit as it all is happening."
~rw