It definitively was a Nick Cave week for me, and I couldn’t let pass the occasion to meet him at Amoeba on Friday, the day following his memorable concert at the Henry Fonda Theater. So I lined up around the store building after 4 pm and a fast drive on Sunset boulevard, coming straight from work. I was one of the happy first 100 people who were able to purchase ‘Push the Sky Away’ at Amoeba on Tuesday, securing a place into the signing.
The Amoeba employees told us that the time with Mr. Cave was very limited as he had to leave at 5:30 pm and that we had to walk to the signing table with only one item on hand,… I had three, the album, a small poster coming with the purchase of the album and the setlist ‘stolen’ from the stage the night before. I decided to not push the envelope too far, I put the poster in my bag and kept the setlist on hand. ‘I think he will sign it’ told me the guy standing just before me on line. He obviously was right, and I wasn't the only one to break the rules, a guy made him even sign his leg for a tattoo template!
Things went very fast, Nick Cave entered the store by the back entrance, looking super elegant (of course) in his black suit and high-collar white shirt. He made a funny face as the store played his album, and my heartbeat was accelerating as I was getting closer to the table,… I know I am crazy like that! Nick Cave signed the album, I thanked him about the show, saying it was fantastic or awesome, I totally forgot,… then I must have said ‘Am I allowed to make you sign this too?’ presenting the setlist,… ‘You can do whatever you want’ he answered me with his deep voice, signing the list right away. Without waiting a second, I asked him about something I had heard him saying in the short documentary screened before the show at the Fonda: he said he had chosen the right photo-cover corresponding to what he had in his head at the time, but things had changed… I was curious about this ‘change’, and first Mr. Cave didn’t understand what I was talking about, and I was kind of happy since this was giving me more time with him! Already an Amoeba employee was kindly telling me my time was up, but he got what I was asking about, and said ‘It got bigger’, ‘It got bigger’. That’s all I got, but I was satisfied, he shook my hand, smiled and I left with that curious feeling to have touched the hand of a music god. May be I should have asked him a deeper question, if he believes in God and stuff like this, kind of hard in 30 seconds! Anyway, he has already answered this one about a thousand times.