Smash hit

On Thursday I went in to work and my mentor, Sean, said to one of the other CFAY Media guys, Dan “Are we going to cover the Smash Mouth concert?”

Dan said, “I dunno. Who’s going to do it?”

And that is how I ended up standing in one of the Galley dining rooms with a notebook and voice recorder in my hand talking to the base player from Smash Mouth.

For those of you who don’t know them, Smash Mouth is the band that played “I’m a Believer” on the Shrek soundtrack. They also did “Walking on the Sun” and “All Star.”

I had never interviewed a band before. I had never covered a concert before. Smash Mouth had never done a military concert tour before. It was a day of firsts for everyone involved.

Happily, a camera girl and a reporter from two other media outlets came as well and pretty much ran the band interview. That was fine with me.

The green room at a rock concert looks exactly like I expected it to. The band sort of hung out, talked to reporters, talked to some high school students who had backstage passes, grazed on the buffet. The drummer sat at a table with what looked like just the top part of a drum, practicing or warming up or something.

Outside, where the concert was to be held, somebody handed us earplugs. I found myself happy to have them when I had to get up close to the stage to take pictures or interview the little girl who got to dance with the band.

I think I actually like covering a concert better than I like just going to one. It was a lot of fun and I felt like part of the action.

I may not be getting paid yet. But I am loving this job.

I leave you today with a quote from Aristotle: “All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind,” but that doesn’t mean I won’t take one when it’s available.