#ugliestpumpkin

I saw the post a couple days ago about looking to buy a ticket stub, and until that moment it never occurred to me that someone would want a used ticket stub from a show they didn't see. It got me wondering if I still had any, and I found 2 (from the same show). It was in Denver, Colorado (the stub leaves that out). And I'm sorry, but I'm not going to sell them.

But that's not where my story begins. It began in New York City, where I went to college, and graduated in 1991. During college I got very into the NYC singer/songwriter scene. For a couple of years I even managed a small venue on campus and I booked the acts every weekend, it was all acoustic folk music stuff. (It's called the Postcrypt Coffeehouse, you can look it up, it's still there)

I got into a scene called "anti-folk" and it was basically younger singer/songwriters (gen x'ers) in NYC who didn't want to be associated with the older generation. They hung out mostly in the East Village, so then, I did too. Even before I graduated, I started hanging out at a cafe called Sin-é (when I could get down there, it was a bit of trek from campus).

After graduation, I decided to stay in NYC, because I wanted the "real" New York experience, not just the going-to-college experience. Me and a couple of friends found a tiny apartment to share on East 12th St. near Avenue B, it was a short walk from Sin-é, so I was hanging out there, like a lot. On a random Monday night in 1992 I happened to see my first Jeff Buckley show at Sin-é. I have no idea when that would have been, but it was before anyone knew who he was. I was immediately transfixed, I remember that. (google says he started at Sin-é in April of '92, so likely around that time)

I went to hear Jeff every Monday night that I could. It wasn't every week, because I was a girl in my early 20's in NYC, and I had a lot of other things going on, including my first real job, and meeting my first real boyfriend. My boyfriend was an aspiring singer/songwriter himself, and he immediately also became a huge fan of Jeff. So then we'd go there together on as many Mondays as we could. I have no idea how many times I saw Jeff Buckley at Sin-é. If I had to guess: at least half a dozen times, probably more.

I remember one of the nights they were recording the live CD there. My bf and I walked up on our usual Monday night outing to Sin-é, and it was a total mob scene, packed inside, people spilling out all over the sidewalk. And we were like, whut? It was obvious they were setting up gear for a recording, and we were not digging the overcrowded atmosphere, so we left. We were accustomed to quiet, intimate, uncrowded Monday nights at Sin-é. I don't regret not sticking around. I obviously bought the CD later, and I prefer my quiet memories of those Mondays.

As he became more well-known in NYC, he was playing other places too. We went to see him at least once at the Fez. Then, at the first of the year in 1994, we moved to Boulder, Colorado. I felt done with NYC, and wanted to go back to school, which was too expensive to contemplate in NYC. As an extreme introvert, NYC just wore me down.

So that's how I ended up seeing Jeff Buckley at the Bluebird Theatre in Denver. I went with my boyfriend (the same one from NYC, we moved to Boulder together) so apparently I ended up with his ticket stub too. I distinctly remember we saw two Jeff Buckley shows in Denver, as he criss-crossed the country on tour. I only have the stubs from this one. (the other show was at The Bug Theatre on July 14, 1994, I looked it up.)

My bf and I broke up in 1996 and he moved back to NYC. I was living alone in Boulder when I heard the news Jeff had died. It was one of the few times I talked to my ex on the phone, as it was truly devastating news, and I needed to talk to the person I shared all those memories with. (My ex apparently passed in 2021, which was also shocking to discover. He never made it as a singer/songwriter, and went on to pursue a career on wall street, but he still has one song on Spotify)

I never went up to talk to Jeff at Sin-é, I am very shy, and didn't drink much back then. And Jeff seemed to exist on another, more ethereal level. It was also just a really chill scene, he wasn't a star or anything yet. There were no mobile phones, and I wasn't a photographer type, so no photos of Sin-é either. (Me today, with liquid courage and an iPhone, probably would have asked for a selfie.)

This story is all true, it's not fan fiction. It was truly something living in the East Village in the early 1990's in my early 20's. It was an amazing time.

I also have this poster. I got it in New York at some point, I can't remember if I got it at Sin-é, or from a friend who worked in a record store. I was thinking of putting it on eBay, it seems like it might be rare. But I doubt I will. The other picture is a snapshot of me in the late '90's in Colorado, with my poster.

Something I learned from the documentary that I didn't know, was that Jeff had also lived on East 12th street. It's a big street with a lot of apartment buildings. I don't remember if I ever saw him on the street.

Sorry if this was boring. I hope someone finds it worth reading. Peace ✨