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I’m a huge Rhett fan-love the 97’s and his last cd-so good!, love his sense of humor in his tweets and when he calls in to the Ticket, loved him on 30 Rock . I think the reason I love him most of all though is because my adult niece and nephews (younger than me by 10+ years) are HUGE fans of his and the music and following his career has given us some common ground to bond over. Very cornball and Hallmark-y but it makes me like him even more! Like I’d want to thank him for that, if I could. He rocks.

I saw the Old 97′for the first time in 1995 at Trees. My future Mrs. took me and mentioned that she sort of half way knew the lead singer and bass player. Halfway thru the show, while she was in front of me moshing around (right, I know, its an Old 97’s show, not nirvana!) in front of the stage she bumped this little cat. Repeatedly. He said something to her. She said something back. It was loud. I couldn’t hear. Next thing I know I’m brought to my knees by a blow to the forehead. I put my hand to my head and it comes back bloody. Meanwhile, My future Lovely Bride goes on moshing about, oblivious. I tramp my way back to the bar and try and get a towel from the barkeep. he won’t give me one. Just stares at my bloody head. I finally jump up on the bar and grab the towel from him (he jumps back totally freaked out) and try and stop the bleeding. Mind you the towel is a bar towel, Wet, and gross. At least there was alcohol on it, so I guess it had a sanitizing effect. I tramp back up to my future Mrs. who is totally unaware that I had left her. She turns around and see my bloody head and rag and is like, what happened.

Show ended, ambulance showed up, i refused it and we went home.

Bonus reason unrelated to Rhett personally, but again, I’m a huge fan of anyone and everything Old 97’s…I attended a five year old’s birthday party ad discovery zone (remember those joints?) with Murray Hammond.

I have a good Rhett Miller story…I dunno for sure, but I would love to get a chance to ask Rhett to find out.

so here goes. Like a lot of people, I remember Rhett from his high-school age incarnation as a Deep Ellum troubador. We didn’t hear much about him for a few years after that…until…I was graduating from UT Dallas in the spring of 1994. The student association was hosting a concert on the Student Union patio. Lo and behold, Rhett Miller was on the bill fronting a new band – I think it was something like Rhett Miller’s Buzz Saw but I couldn’t say for sure.

It sounded like something I didn’t want to miss so I went. When I got there, Rhett got intro’d and said his band a new name but I couldn’t really tell you what he said. It seems like the word animal was in the name but, alas, that is what smoking and drinking does to your memory. The show was good – some twangy power pop like I can never get tired of.

Anyway, after all these years, I have always wondered what was that band. I have bumped into Rhett a few times – like the time I held the door for him at Good Records and he commented on my PBR t-shirt – but I never got up the nerve to ask him.

Maybe if I win these tickets, I can finally ask him who that band was that he was playing with. Or if he is ever going to cover Thirteen.

Peace everyone.

Rhett’ll also do a performance for KXT 91.7, to air sometime next week.

Um…I wrote a review about “Blame It on Gravity” in high school that eventually got signed by Rhett Miller who, and I quote, “smirked while saying ‘I like this kid’” as well as a CD of unreleased songs (some of which were released on his latest solo album like “Government Man” and “Haphazardly”). God, I’m rambling. I also have Robert Jenkins’ phone number. I saw the 97’s at the House of Blues for my 19th birthday. Best birthday ever? Best birthday ever.

I’ll give the tickets to my son, a musician, and great admirer of Rhett. He shot some very nice shots of him in Salim’s studio, a few months back:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minimoog/2052910224/

Huge fan!!!

The Old 97s Halloween show at the Granada where they played Hitchhike to Rhome straight through complete with an accordian interlude by Ken was one of my favorite shows ever.

Any time I hear Rhett singing Question, even if it is in a television commercial, my eyes tear up. When he ups the ante and sings Question in French, I’m a bawling schoolgirl.

Most importantly, these tix will be the final assault that finally allows me to convince my wife that our first born should be named Stewart Ransom.

Huge fan!!!

I ought to get the tickets as Rhett interrupted a stellar game of darts back in the day on a Sunday night at the Gingerman to get me to stop playing, so he could plug in his amp for an early Old’s 97 gig. To add insult to injury the dartboard area was part of their “stage” for the evening. I was actually winning at the time and had to abandon any hope of getting the $20 off my compadre!

see my website to PROVE how big of a fan I am. I have traveled with the band for years…

I was the only person in the audience at a 97’s show at the Butchertown Pub (I think) in Louisville, KY back in the late 90s. It brought up the question, is it more insulting to have one person clap after a song, or none at all? There was bourbon involved.

I saw the Old 97s play for the first time at the Blue Note in Columbia, MO in 2001 while I was in school at Mizzou. My girlfriends and I snuck in a bunch of old bras and then proceeded to launch them at Rhett during the show. You could tell that was the first time that had ever happened to him

The best part is that after the show, we were loitering outside their tour bus and sweet Rhett actually gave the bras back to us!

Reposting for Moderators:If original post is still in moderation please disregard this one, I just really want to win! and want to make sure I posted it correctly to be entered. THANK YOU!
I went to my first Old 97’s show at the Ridglea Theater in 2001, with Daryl and Slobberbone as the opening acts. My oldest brother had gotten into the band in high school when his orthodontist/dentist told him about a fellow patient’s band, that fellow patient was Rhett Miller.
I begrudgingly went along as my brother had bought me a ticket to the show and was eager to introduce me to his beloved favorite band, who were touring the songs from their latest CD – Satellite Rides. I had no idea that I was about to be introduced to music and a band that I would come to personally love so much, and would in turn introduce to everyone I could. I went to every show I could after that, at Trees, the Granada, Ridglea, Gypsy Tea Room, Sons of Hermann Hall, HoB, and always ‘mobbed’ the band members whenever possible. And what made me love them all the more is that they were cool with it, once when Rhett’s new bride was at a show, and my oldest brother had stopped Rhett in the crowd to tell him about the dentist connection, Rhett was so kind and introduced Erica to us. When I saw Rhett solo at a small yoga studio here in Dallas, he hugged and took pictures with everyone and signed everything asked of him. His strings on his guitar kept breaking during the show and he was telling jokes to pass the time while he changed them, and he asked audience members to come up and tell jokes as well, he was so funny and friendly and telling stories about his kids, it was awesome. Many memories; my friend falling down drunk on the stairs at Son’s of Hermanns only to land at Phil Peeples feet; Rhett, at sons of hermann, singing a song at my sister’s request for her birthday and wishing her a happy b-day; my brother seeing them in Austin and getting to sit backstage with Rhett afterwards, listening to him tell stories about his wife and kids in NY, and calling me to tell me that Rhett Miller is “Not an A-hole” like other rock-star/band guys he’d had the chance to hang-out with, “Rhett Miller is Awesome” he told me, I knew this already…Ken Bethea sitting with me and my best friend at the Granada and telling us about meeting Rhett Miller for the first time and telling funny stories about their early days, sitting there for more than 20 minutes just talking to us like we were old friends.
I love Rhett Miller and the 97’s because of their music, their songs, the fast and slow ones that make me think of so many things, but I mainly love them for how they have treated their fans, and how they come out and rock the stage and hold us all captive with their energy and music.
I’m so glad that my oldest brother required braces, if his teeth had been perfect I might never have been introduced to my favorite band, and I consider it them to be the best band around, and Rhett one of the best song-writers I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. Thank you Rhett, Murray, Ken and Phil. Keep it rocking.

In 2004, on the very first longish drive I ever took with my neighbor (who is now my wife), I tried to keep the music selection at a hip, but generally accepted level. I started her out with “Too Far to Care” and “The Instigator” because I knew she didn’t know Rhett or the Old 97’s, but from her Top 20 leanings, I could get her on board and ease her in to the likes of the rest of my catalogue.

Bad news is that she doesn’t like any of the music I like beyond the alt-country, singer/song writer set. Good news is that she loves the 97’s and Rhett’s solo stuff.

Unfortunately, whenever I plug in the iPod for a quick jog down 35 or a day of joint errand running, if I make the mistake of letting her choose the music, there’s a 100% chance we’ll end up on Rhett’s solo stuff. Which I enjoy – in moderation. She’s driving me to dislike the stuff I introduced her to because I can’t get her to share time with the rest of my catalogue.

Her 30th birthday was yesterday, so maybe I can look like a hero by getting her the tickets. Maybe she’ll let me pick out the music on the way to the venue…