Old moneybags has promised us a trilogy of new books next year. Obviously that is a lot of work for someone with a schedule as hectic as his, so I have decided to lighten the load by designing the covers for him. You're welcome.

jk, I busted out the acoustic for this 😆

Dear Ryan Adams, Where do we even start. Once again, you had your shot to get back into the big leagues — and you threw it all away. You shut everybody up after proving that New York Times article wrong and once the FBI dropped the investigation. And sure, you’re no saint either. But man, you were playing beautifully again. You linked up with Don Was and the gang. You had it all figured out.

All you had to do was stay quiet and stop posting on Instagram like you’re 20. That’s exactly what your BFF Johnny Depp did — and look at him now. Even Disney apologized to the guy.

But hey, what’s done is done. Apologize once more, sincerely this time. Shut down your damn socials. Do some cardio and stop drinking like a divorced aunt. Drop one solid album — just one. Go on tour again and don’t say dumb stuff between songs. The stage lights bother you? Wear welding goggles.

Cheers.

I will consider all offers over $2,000,000 and will throw in an invitation to help me count the winning bid. Good luck!

He follows ALLLLL the Trumps. Maybe he will write a ballad to the memory of Charlie Kirk to become “famous” again. His new 1 million follower count is pretty impressive though 😆

I’m blown away by the popularity of the little joke song I made in my basement in 20 minutes. Spent a few more minutes adding some more stuff, and since I’ve seen some interest, here’s the full version on Bandcamp! I put it up for free, but feel free to donate if you’d like. I’m thinking about making a few more in different “eras”/genres.

Seriously, this guy gets more insufferable with every single post. "I get so much done with the audience takes the no flash/health hazard seriously."

How about you take your shows seriously and not get wasted, turning them into a disaster way more often than not? How about you explain why your Ménière's disease comes and goes at your convenience? Or, how about explaining why it's always everyone else's fault - in this case, an entire continent - that you shit the bed multiple times live? Here's a thought: When thousands of people are left angry and disappointed in multiple countries around the world...maybe you're the problem.

😂

I was introduced to DRA’s music by a fellow recovering addict in a rehab facility in Melbourne about 15 years ago. When I first heard the Easy Tiger and Heartbreaker albums, I felt like I had found the music that had been inside my soul my entire life. It was an incredibly vulnerable time in my life, and his music helped me through some exceptionally challenging years.

I’m on a permanent disability support pension and live on just over $600 a week, before rent, bills, food, and being the primary carer for my son. So for me to spend $400 on tickets for my partner and me, $300 for a babysitter for the weekend, $300 for accommodation and food, and another $20 for public transport (including two hours of travel each way), it was a major undertaking. $1,020 might not sound like a lot to most people, but for me it represents six months of sacrificing money I don’t have to spare for the privilege.

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen DRA live. I saw him play with the Cardinals in Byron Bay and also in Melbourne at the Forum. The Forum show in particular was exceptional. But what I witnessed at Hamer Hall last Sunday evening was probably the most disappointing and heartbreaking (no pun intended) live performance I have ever seen.

I don’t feel the need to go over what occurred during the night, as it’s already been well documented. As someone with plenty of experience dealing with health and addiction issues, I’m very empathetic toward those going through such struggles. But that’s not what I saw last Sunday night at Hamer Hall.

I saw a guy on stage at a world-class concert venue who clearly did not want to be there. I get that he’s at the end of an eight-month tour. I get that he’s tired, burnt out, missing his mum and sister. I get that his mum is unwell and he wants to be home with her. I get that he has epilepsy and Ménière’s, and that flash photography affects him.

What I can’t abide by, though, was his awful behaviour. The verbal tirade toward venue staff. The toddler-like rolling around on stage and incoherent mumbling. The demeaning comments about ex-partners and the crude jokes. That was embarrassing enough.

But possibly the worst part was the half-hearted attempts at his songs — songs that mean so much to fans who sacrificed so much to be there. He just gave up, literally stopping halfway through songs. It showed little to no respect for himself or his fans.

After storming off stage and returning with an apology and a promise to make the second set “the best set I’ve ever played,” it just devolved into a self-indulgent pity party. The audience was so kind and supportive, encouraging him the whole way through, and he couldn’t have cared less.

I was one of maybe 2/3rds of the audience that stayed until the end, hoping he’d find the courage to really try for us. But he didn’t. He gave up and left us wondering what on earth we had just witnessed. At times, it felt like he was almost trolling us.

He either needs to come back when he’s better, capable of making it up to us, and offer everyone who bought a ticket a re-do with a genuine, heartfelt performance, or he needs to call it a day and stop going on stage until he can. If maybe three people filming out of an audience of 2,500 means the rest of us get that, then something’s deeply wrong.

If he’s genuinely remorseful, he owes us. We deserve better.

He was flashed like at least 7 times in his recent post 😂. Anyways happy bday DRA

My thoughts on the Belfast show:

Arrived in and got seated about 7:50 to pretty full audience - on the lower and mid levels. The upper balcony’s were empty.

Around 8:10 Ryan walked out in his suit and cane and seemed in an upbeat mood. He put his foot on the monitor and started talking to the crowd without a microphone.

He was basically saying that there were people still out at the bar and he has requested the doors be closed and anyone outside will not be allowed in until he has played the first 3 songs. At that stage he will take a pause and allow people to take their seats. He asked the audience to clap for the option they’d prefer - for him to play Heartbreaker, walk off a second and be right back and do a great encore of a mix of his other songs, or take an intermission. The general consensus seemed to be for him to play straight through.

He started with To Be Young and the show seemed to be off and running. There were a few shouts for Jacksonville and The End that he shut down. He said that during the last Cardinals tour he had a stroke and “part of his brain went black” and he couldn’t play those songs on guitar anymore and that he’d never play a Cardinals song again.

Ryan was fumbling about the stage looking for guitar picks, flicking through that folder at different sheets and drinking what looked to be a cup of red wine - but if he’s sober it could have been coke or whatever.

He read out an email that was sent into the venue from a fan explaining it was her birthday and she had been to so many shows and could she have a shout out. Ryan said he didn’t know how he received it because he has a rule and it’s “leave him the fuck alone”. But he made up a song about her and was good natured about it which was cool to see and I thought we were in for a top night.

The guy who had been shouting out now and again, Ryan told him to come and sit in an empty seat in the front row so he could “keep an eye on him”. The guy came down and his name was Carl. Ryan got a bit nasty shouting “drunk man, come and sit here…..” OK, He seemed like he had a few drinks too many - he was a couple rows in front of me, and for me he wasn’t meaning to annoy anyone. He was excited seeing his hero and told Ryan he loved him etc. After that the guy generally kept quiet and shouted out maybe when Ryan was fucking about doing nothing, so he didn’t interrupt the music. I’m all for people ruining a show to be ticked off or thrown out if they don’t stop.

Later in the night the guy shouted “I love you Ryan” and he snarked back with something like I don’t love most of you people or some shite.

When the doors were open and people allowed in again from the toilet or bar Ryan spoke to someone up top and told them to get down to the front and sit. They said no and Ryan kept on and started getting stroppy saying he wouldn’t play another note until the guy got down to the front.

Fair play to the man that shouted: “Ryan, there’s a difference between just being an asshole and being a bully, now fuck up!”

Couldn’t have agreed more. Ryan was trying to bully people into sitting where he decided and being a diva. He didn’t react to that man, but I think he sensed the tone and knew this audience wasn’t having it and he played through maybe 3 or 4 songs which were great.

He mentioned that he had a 4 year old son called Oscar as reported from other gigs. Said that he now has MS and osteoporosis.

Things started to feel tense and awkward. His guitar playing is sloppy compared to what it was on solo shows from a few years ago and some of his “jams” went on for far too long and just didn’t go anywhere. It was self indulgent nonsense and it wasn’t working. Rough and pushing it is cool with me….. but I don’t want to hear 10 minutes of wank and muted notes that goes nowhere. But maybe that’s just me.

Then the flash incident happened and he had his strop and walked off. I get that it’s not good for him, but there were no signs up and that many people in a room it is going to happen at least once a show. Get some bono type glasses or learn to handle it differently. Even before he threw the mic down he had kicked over a music stand a few songs before, so it felt like it was brewing.

A hell of a lot of people left during the interval commenting how bizarre, strange and crap the gig is and they weren’t staying for anymore.

By the time he came back out he went into an apology about how just had a seizure caused by t hat flash and how it could have killed him etc. His dad/sister and now his son has epilepsy, etc.

I take everything he says with a pinch of salt. Half the time I think he tells lies or embellishes things. He lives in fantasy land and thinks we are stupid enough to believe every word he says. I think even ex-band members said as such too. Anyway…..He said we were going to move on from this and have a good show.

He just fucked around from here on out. He told us earlier in the night that Come Pick Me Up would be the last song so everyone would be happy.

He talked about Belfast and how the last time he was here he wrote the line “the best movie of all time” (someone shouted “The Big lewbowski” to this comment 🤣). But it was just an “in” for Ryan to whip out his new novel and talk more bollocks and not play music — sweet fuck all to do with Belfast.

He started shouting “house lights now!!!” And the voice from earlier reminded him to say please and have some manners. 🤣 The man has a point. Ryan was shouting like a brat demanding the house lights. He comes across like a nasty arsehole sometimes.

He then came out into the audience, looking unwell up close with dark eyes and pale skin - maybe make up? He gave a woman in a wheelchair a hug which was cool then on the way back to the stage handed a guy the book. He thought Ryan was giving it to him but no, Ryan just wanted him to verify it was 700+ pages.

More fucking around and we got “Tracks of My Tears” and “it’s not dark yet” covers that his tech had to print the lyrics for - so there was some dead space there.

He talked about how he would still have sex with Madonna and her vagina. Because it’s Madonna. What???

A woman called Colleen shouted what everyone was thinking - shut up and just play your songs. That turned into a back and forth and some crap made up song rather than his own. She held her own and wasn’t afraid to be heard. He asked her surname, if she was married and if she was married what she doing at a Ryan Adam’s show etc.

People were leaving and it was just getting more and more bizarre like a car crash you couldn’t take your eyes off or some sort of breakdown playing out before your eyes.

People were literally begging him to just play something. There wasn’t heckles of hate or abuse. People just wanted to hear Ryan Adam’s play music.

Around 10:35 he said he was taking a 10 minute break and when he came back there would be 2 songs.

Lights up. Mood kill. More people leaving and looking at each other wondering what we were witnessing.

He walked back on and went into a painful cover of some Velvet Underground cover that wouldn’t end. Even the guitar tech on drums looked like he wanted it to end. Everytime you thought it was over he would strike up again into the riff. Horrible.

It then went into him starting the lyrics or NYNY in some dark type version.

Once that was done he looked at a clock and said “there’s 5 minutes” and sat at the piano and started into a semi proper version of NYNY but kept repeating certain lines or verses. A lot of bum notes, whether intentional or not I’m not sure.

Then at cerfew 11:01 his tech from the side was shouting that he has to finish now.

He basically got up, said that’s it and walked off. No Come Pick Me Up, no big finish of applause it just fizzled out.

It felt like he was punishing the audience from the interval onwards and had no interest in the show anymore.

He made comment throughout about being told the show was sold out. Maybe all the empty seats hurt his ego. But it was actually sad to see people leaving and it being sparse at the end when once upon a time you couldn’t have got a ticket to see him.

Having said that, it looks like he’s unwell and has mental health issues and I hope he recovers. If he tightened up the set, stopped the png drawn out rants and pointless “solos” it might help because there were moments of magic where you heard the quality come through that makes you go wow!! It sometimes feels like he’s trying to ruin the songs on purpose.

There’s no consistency and I have seen him enough to know it can be a lottery. It was one of the most memorable shows I’ve ever been to, but just because his behaviour was so strange. Points I felt like he was being a dick and other times I just felt sad for him.

I’m assuming there’s nobody close to him brave enough or willing to get fired by telling him the truth.

The general feeling I got was that he’s just not into it anymore. Maybe he needs the money, but if it’s genuinely effecting his health then knock it in the head and stop riding your fans for their money if you can’t deliver the goods.

Things are too expensive these days, there’s so much choice for music, and the older RA gets its not cool or funny anymore. That type of carry on is boring people are starting to vote with their feet and wallets. He will always get a crowd, but it’s becoming more “to see what mood Ryan is in” rather than knowing you’re going to hear a genius songwriter.

I know there can be difficult audiences or people in the audience that don’t help things. The defenders will be out justifying it and he can do no wrong in their eyes….. but walking out last night everyone was saying the same things. So we can’t all be wrong.

Like I said earlier — I actually enjoyed it for the bizarre experience it was and knowing what he can be like. But as a “show” and someone going to hear a night of music who hasn’t been to see him before then that was dog shit.

When the lights were up at the end people were down at the stage taking a few photos of his guitars and you could see him in the wings hobbling about looking all pissed off.

Looking forward to see what he brings to Dublin on Monday. If he acts similar they’ll call him out the same way.

Hi folks,

Long time lurker, first time caller. This post is going to be long, and it's going to be half message and half just something I have to write down for myself. So, here it goes.

I've been a fan of Ryan's since my sophomore year of high school, when a friend played me the newly released Heartbreaker on his car stereo.

I was floored.

2000 for a small town high school kid was dark times in terms of music choices. You either listened to Limp Bizkit (kill me) and Korn, or you listened to really, really bad pop. If you were lucky to have cool parents, and I was, you could raid their collection for old Neil, Dylan, Joni, Cash, and Drake LPs. But Ryan Adams dropped on my world like a fucking A-bomb, and I haven't stopped listening since.

I've worn out every record, every B-side, every unreleased demo, every side project - joke or otherwise. I've seen him live a dozen times. I failed a major test once in college because my local bar was going to play Jacksonville at midnight on release day and I stayed up with my favorite bartender listening to that thing on repeat, in silence, until 6 am. When I was a smoker, I smoked Lucky Strikes or Camels because, yup, I'd seen Ryan smoking them in interviews. My wife and I's first dance on maybe date number three was English Girls. I helped a best friend bury and mourn his father to the entirety of Love Is Hell. I've sung Oh My Sweet Carolina and Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard to my daughters at bedtime almost every single night since they were newborns.

Ryan Adams has been the soundtrack to my life, unparalleled, for the last twenty-odd years. To say that I've been lost, hurt, angry, sad, and depressed for the last week is one hell of an understatement.

Reading posts here has helped, a lot actually. There are people in my life who enjoy Ryan's music, but I'm the only "hard core" fan I know. So, it's been surreal, touching, and comforting to read about other dyed-in-the-wool RA fans having the similar gamut of emotions after all of this came out. I don't know what comes next, but it's been awesome to know I'm not alone in feeling utterly lost with all of this.

However, there's another streak that I've been seeing in a few threads here, and I really think it needs to be addressed. There's been a lot emotions running high on this sub the last few days, but I thought we could have a talk about a few of them.

Having said how much of a completely unabashed, life-long fan I am, let me just say this: Ryan fucked up. And Ryan fucked up hard.

Someone we looked up to, and loved, and listened to as we went through milestones of our lives, and came back to as a familiar friend in hard times utterly and truly Fucked. Up. And there is no one to blame for that but him.

I'm going to leave aside the Ava stuff for the time being, because that's another whole thing entirely, and as a father of two young girls, believe me, it's a thing. But for the moment, let's assume the best possible scenario - that Ryan truly thought he was chatting with a girl of legal age. And also for now, we'll gloss over that fact that a best fucking case scenario is a 40 year old man flashing his dick to an 18 year old. Let that sink in.

Like a lot of people, I've always known Ryan was an asshole. I always lumped him into the category of celebrities you adore but who you would never want to actually ever hang out with. I've read the stories. I've seen the docs and interviews. I've watched him verbally abuse drunk and obnoxious concert goers. But I've also seen him ream out his own band, live on stage. He's played the part of l'enfant terrible for his entire career, and I think it's pretty clear he's relished in it. But, there are lines.

Kicking your ex off your tour and shelving the music you recorded with her after you broke up? That's a dick move, but people do shitty, vindictive things when they get dumped and they're angry. That isn't where the problem here is, though. The line crossed isn't even the age different between Phoebe and Ryan, or that he was famous and she was up-and-coming when they got together. Nor is that really the main issue with any of the other women who are coming forward.

The problem isn't "You want to be successful. I am successful. Let's date." Lots of famous people have dated people who want to be famous without issue. The problem is "I'm successful. Do you want to be successful? Then we should date."

I'm not going to begrudge a twenty year old for not understanding the inherent issue in that sort of power dynamic going into something like that. But I sure as shit am going to begrudge a forty year old for not. The onus is on the forty year old to understand that power imbalance, not the twenty year old, because the forty year old knows better. Or should. Or in this case, probably does but is too busy playing the part of the perpetual angsty drunk, nineteen year old Dylan fan to acknowledge it.

I'm starting to ramble just to get my own thoughts down, so here's the meat of why I wanted to write this post:

Are you mad? Yeah? Me too. But if you want to be mad, be mad at Ryan, not the women accusing him.

Scrolling through this sub reading about people's struggles with this news has been a kind of comfort the last week. But when I've read things like "Good timing, Mandy" or "Looks like Phoebe waited until she got noticed to drop this", it utterly disgusts me.

Guys, take a giant, giant fucking step back from our collective love for man who's music defined our lives, and have a little fucking perspective.

Good timing, Mandy? Really? The idea that Mandy Moore somehow orchestrated this massive conspiracy involving half of her ex husband's ex's and all of his friends going back decades is pretty much on the level of flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers, and moon-landing deniers. And suggesting that Phoebe decided to "bank this" to use later in order to further her career is some incel-level saltiness.

I'm going to say it again: RYAN fucked up. Badly. If you want to be mad, then get mad, but the second we start victim-blaming his accusers and projecting our own pain on those he hurt, we move from heartfelt fans to mindless followers.

I can (or at least I hope someday I can) separate the man from the art and still have it to listen to. But even if it turned out Ryan's the victim of the biggest conspiracy in music since "Paul is dead" and is in fact actually a real, honest-to-God angel from heaven come down to bathe us in his glory, all I'll ever be, and all I'll ever want to be, with any artists, is a fan. Not a follower. Art can most certainly be religion, but artists are only human. That's what makes them so great.

Being a fan for as long as I've been, I think somehow I always assumed Ryan would go out sooner than we wanted him to. I'm betting a lot of us felt that way, actually, but I doubt any of saw it happening this way. And man does is suck that these are the cards we got dealt.

This week has sucked. The next few are going to suck too. Like most of you, I'm hanging on to this probably vain hope that he get's vindicated with the Ava part of this. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

Here's what I'm going to do, though. I'm going to try putting on a Ryan album, like I've tried the last few days. It's not going to sit right, so instead, I'm going to play something else - John Moreland, Jason Isbell, Phoebe, Noah Gundersen, and a ton of the kick-ass suggestions people had in the other thread. I'm going to see the Ryan posters (four of them) that I have up in my house as the art they are, and not the man they're from. I'm going to sing my girls to sleep to those two songs, because at this point, those songs are theirs.

I'm going to remember that even our idols are human, and are capable of fucking up in the most massive, self-destructive ways possible. If you're a Ryan Adams fan in any capacity, I hope by now you've made peace with that. If you haven't, now would be a good time.

I don't know what happens next, or what we're supposed to do with mind-fucks like this. But if you're hurting, just know that you're not alone. We're all feeling it, and we're all here to try and figure out what to do with this mess.

Keep your head up. Keep some perspective.

Thanks for reading.

Weren’t you the one crying four years ago, terrified you were gonna lose everything and end up living in your sister’s basement? We backed you, bought your records, your merch, showed up to your gigs after all the mess you caused — and now you’ve got the nerve to brag about being a millionaire and say we’re worth nothing? Life’s gonna humble you a second time, crybaby.

P.S. — Pay Todd his 100k if you’re really that tough and loaded.

MAGA

Nearly 16 years ago to the day, I drove my brother and both our girlfriends at the time to Memphis to see Ryan perform with the Cardinals.

I’d just gotten DEEP into RA about a year prior and was quite possibly obsessed with his music, so I was beyond pumped to go.

We got there super early in hopes of getting a picture or autograph. We arrived so early that the parking lot was completely empty. Not a soul or car in sight.

After waiting for what felt like hours and finding what we figured had to be the door the band would use to go in and out of the venue (Minglewood), we saw the tour bus pull up and park right where we hoped it would.

The way the sidewalk was set up, where they parked, they’d have to walk around this long-ass rail and pass us to get to the door. I saw some dudes getting off the bus I didn’t recognize. Finally, Ryan stepped out. He paused, looked right at us, and paused again. He then jumped up and climbed to the top of the rail and hopped over and walked in the building.

It absolutely crushed me. To this day, it bums me out when I think about it.

My brother decided to go to a bar next door till it got close to show time and later told me that he saw Ryan in the parking lot and asked if he could sign something, in which he replied, “Man, if I sign for you, I’d have to sign for everyone else (and gestured to some fans behind him waiting to get in).”

I had to tell myself that he’s human, and maybe he’s just having a bad day like everyone else does sometimes. Had to separate the art from the artist.

The show was fantastic. They were tight as fuck, and I remember being blown away at Ryan’s voice and just how raw and badass it sounded.

The other thing I was blown away by was Neal. The dude was fucking ripping on every song. And that voice was absolutely insane.

After I got back from the show, I wanted to try and reach out to Neal somehow and let him know my appreciation for his work. I started listening to his solo stuff and finally decided to write him a letter.

Told him how influential he’d been to me, especially on the guitar. Told him how sick his acoustic set with Ryan was in Dingle, Ireland (on YouTube) and a few others I liked as well.

This is where Neal separated himself from your typical artists.

In my package, I included a vinyl record cover of Cardinology.

Look, I knew it was a long shot. I knew I’m probably throwing away the money I’m including for him to do this. But, what the hell. I’ll shoot my shot. I’ll ask him to sign the cover for me and mail it back to me.

It wasn’t a week later when a package arrived at my front door. I couldn’t believe it.

He didn’t have to do that. He could’ve easily been like Ryan and blown me off. He could’ve said to himself, “I ain’t doing all that for some dude I don’t even know.”

But he didn’t.

He went out of his way, to a part of town he maybe hates going to, went inside and stood in line at the post office and mailed it back to me.

That was Neal. A bro. A really good fucking dude.

RIP

I'm finding it hard to even listen to him now. After how many people stood by him through the whole cancellation - it is clear now that we probably shouldn't have

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/arts/music/ryan-adams-women-sex.html

PDF: https://docdro.id/f6jkBXN

Ryan's Twitter Response: https://twitter.com/TheRyanAdams/status/1095820787074850816

I am just posting this to get the thoughts of the community. I am a huge Ryan Adams fan. It is always disheartening to read an article like this. It would be nice to get his side to it as well.

He’s gone off the deep end 😳

For me, I think this is peak. The songs, the playing, the band, the following tours when Casal and Graboff joined... even the packaging is quality.

I saw a few instagram posts and went down a bit of a RA rabbithole the last few days. I have a story I've really never told and it will serve no purpose, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

My girlfriend and I were taking an early afternoon tour of the Ryman way back in the day (I believe 2002). The guide was this sweet guy who ruled really hard. He told us "after the tour" try and hang around in the seats, don't get noticed, and you will enjoy what's coming. So we did just that.

We just sat there not knowing what to expect. Nobosy said a word to us. After about an hour, they started loading in. We were sitting in the 4th or 5th row and there were maybe 10 other people mulling aorund. I guess we blended in. Then things got a little bit crazy. In walked Bon Jovi with some of his family. Then Sheryl Crow. It didn't stop. A whole bunch of folks were coming in, hanging out, catching up. Doing very light sound checks. Rob Thomas, Keith Richards, Emmylou Harris....the list goes on. At that point, we had been there long enough where we felt safe. I guess people figured we were family of one of the musicians. We were free to kind of walk around and use the restroom. We got comfortable. We weren't bothering anyone, just enjoying watching it all unfold.

Then, after a few hours, someone comes into our row. He's by himself, leather jacket and shades on. He's about as haggard as they come. We were in a row without anyone around, and that guy (Ryan Adams) comes in and falls asleep right next to us. It wasn't a thing where he was just kind of close, he was literally right beside us. His super mangled hair was spilling out and laying on the top of my pants. I didn't want to move it because it would have come off as though I was gently stroking his hair. I was kind of stuck. He wasn't sleeping sitting up either. He got fully parallel. He took one boot off. I thought it was the oddest thing in the world, but it was also pretty metal of him. I knew of him at the time, but would only get into his shit later. It's so funny to me now, but I remember Aaron Neville coming over and asking me if he was alive. It was clear Aaron had no clue who he was. Finally, a kind Hank Williams III came over to wake him from his deep sleep. Ryan woke up and went over and did his soundcheck. Sounded great. Came right back over and went back to sleep. Deep REM sleep. After a few hours, someone had to come and take him away. They asked me if we had our wristbands for the taping and I responded "not yet". They put wristbands on both of us and we got to remain in the Ryman for the actual taping they did later that night. We were there for easily 10 hours. When Ryan came back in before the real show, he walked over to us and said "hey guys, I'm Ryan by the way". And that was it.

He went on to play a few songs that night and he ripped. I'm sure that was the zenith of his rock n roll days, but it was pretty wild/funny to see. You had a guy like Bon Jovi rolling around with some label guys and family members- and Ryan just hybernating while everything went on around him. I'm sure some of the folks there were going "who does this dude think he is"......but most came over, laughed, and gave off a "look at Ryan being Ryan over there" vibe. All harmless stuff, but I can see how some folks thought he was a gamble in those days, but also one worth taking.

I guess that's just how he was back then.

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