I’ve Been Everywhere

Mary Chapin Carpenter. Singer-Songwriter. Five-time Grammy award winner. Since 1992, I’ve seen her at least 75 times in concert.

At the beginning of my journey, my family and friends used to ask why I was going to see her again, as if one time was enough. I’ve logged over 15,000 miles over a span of 30 years by traveling up and and down the East Coast from Maine to Georgia and the West Coast in California. A few years into my journey, my family and friends would roll their eyes when I told them where I was headed again. I’ve spent over $6000 on concert tickets, hotel rooms, gasoline and food. When Mary Chapin was off the road, I spent more money by adding to my ever-growing memorabilia collection which began with a program booklet from the first concert I went to in Agawam, Massachusetts which was sponsored by 92.5 WWYZ from Connecticut.

I’ve visited some unique venues along the way such as Fort Adams State Park for the Newport Folk Fest, the promenade of the World Trade Center, Hershey Park Arena, The Trump Taj Mahal, Mohegan Sun Casino Bingo Hall, Housing Works Used Book Cafe and Central Park both in New York City, then most recently at Calvin Theater in Northampton, Massachusetts.

I’ve seen her from the loge, the balcony, the mezzanine, orchestra row S, the front row and everywhere in between. I’ve stood in the pouring rain, sat in the blistering sun and seen lightning from the lawn. I’ve sat on plush seats, squeaky seats, lawn chairs, blankets, folding chairs and at tables. This far into my journey everyone in my family has seen her with me. And along the way I’ve met other fans via the internet that I now consider friends.

Despite all the interesting places that I’ve been, I still have a list of places that I regret not going to see her perform. For instance, I’ve seen here perform with the Boston Pops at Boston Symphony Hall but not at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the Fourth of July celebration in 1996. I’ve seen her in New York City several times, once at the Town Hall on W. 34th Street in the front row but I didn’t make it to Madison Square Garden where she performed “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” with Shawn Colvin and Rosanne Cash at the Bob Dylan 20th Anniversary concert. I’ve traveled as far south as Chastain Park in Atlanta, however I’ve never seen her at Austin City limits in Texas.

Sometime midway through my journey, I finally met other fans who understand why I do what I do. Among these fans, some have trekked many more miles to see her by flying from the U.S. to the U.K. or vice versa to see her in concert. And then there have been others that have seen her twice as many times as I have, either in one concert season or over the course of her career. I’ve known these extraordinary fans to plan vacations, surgeries, and even major life events around her yearly concert tours. Finally, other loyal fans, perhaps you could call them groupies, converge year after year with pink flamingos at places like Atlanta or scoot over to sunny California to wear some neon jewelry.

After only a few concerts, I realized that going to a Mary Chapin Carpenter concert became a journey to me not a destination. It’s not just the concert itself; it’s about being first in line at the venue or on the phone to buy tickets. It’s also the experience of getting there, the travel time because I usually travel out of state. It’s meeting other hardcore fans and asking them to wear homemade t-shirts or hold signs whose idea were born from an overactive imagination.

Perhaps if you’re lucky, it’s meeting the artist herself by the tour bus, outside the venue back door or the elusive invitation backstage. Eventually, she’s bound to recognize the same face sitting in her audience especially when you’re holding up a sign, a flying red horse flag, an MCCFAN vanity license plate or a 6-foot Austin Powers cardboard stand-up.

Concert after concert, I know she’ll sing songs that I have heard at least 74 other times, but each time I attend I can’t explain in words fully why I’m sitting there in the audience yet again. But what I can explain is that I’m extremely happy that I made all the effort that I did to attend. And as I sit in the audience bathed in the sound of her music, I know that as long as she continues to tour, I’ll be there for the next 75 concerts.