I'd never seen OTR live before this show in October of 2003. This was the letter I sent to them afterwards...

"> Wow.
> No, wait... Amazing.
> Still not right.
> Breathtaking?
> Yeah, Breathtaking.
> Damnit, that's not it either.
> Beautiful...well, that's at least closer.
> Sad. Happy. Angry. Excited. Entranced. Reminiscent. Alone. Surrounded.
>
> I've been sitting at this computer for nearly thirty minutes searching
> for the right words to describe what I saw earlier this week. What I
> heard. What I FELT. There doesn't seem to be one thing I can say to
> wrap it all up in a neat little package. As I stood listening...
> watching... there were moments where I felt I was the only one in the
> room. I was so immersed, so enraptured, so moved at times that it
> brought tears to my eyes. I can't count the number of times I've sat
> down, cued up "Bothered" and played along at my piano, but hearing you
> play and sing that song live, though it wasn't the version I am
> accustomed to, was beyond anything I had ever anticipated. It was
> beautiful. And it was only the beginning.
>
> As the show came to a close, I hoped that you might stay after to meet
> some of the folks that were there. And you did. I wanted to come up
> and introduce myself and tell you something about what I thought of
> the show... ANYTHING... but I was too nervous. Music is my passion and
> I wanted you to know what you had just done to me. But I couldn't find
> the words then either. Music had just brought me to my knees and all I
> could bring myself to do was watch from across the room in silent
> admiration. I've been kicking myself ever since. So, I ask that you take
> these words that follow and consider them my late but fashionable
> introduction.
>
> Linford & Karin.. your music inspires me. I am but one in a sea of
> many, but I am affected. Or is it infected? I think either would work..

> I don't remember how I first discovered Over The Rhine. I do know,
> though, that I haven't stopped listening since. And I haven't stopped
> sharing my admiration for the music with others. Hopefully, I will
> infect them and they, too, will be affected.
>
> Thank you for the show and thank you for your music."


Here's to another breathtaking show. This time I'll say hi.

I can't wait.

Brent, I too was at that 12th and Porter show. I want to say that they were in rare form that night, but that simply is not true. They were true to form that night. I can't name a single night of the now countless nights where I've had the opportunity to be in the room to witness the beauty of what is "Over The Rhine" and have not been brought to tears. I had been at work that evening, and actually arrived at the show very late. Due to those circumstances I was required to stand in the VERY BACK!!! I mean behind the soundboard, right at the Merch table, but still, even from all the way across the room in an area surrounded by distractions of the audio technicians and the money exchanges at the merchandise table, it was there, the same magic you get from the very front row where you feel scared to dare look into her eyes. Then, there is that ache that forms in your heart as your breath and all words have escaped you. That tear which slowly starts to well up in your eye so you turn your head and rub it so as not to be discovered. Then there is that moment of absolute bliss you feel as they begin playing that one song you were hoping all day long to hear. Now don't get me wrong, every time I've seen them perform in Nashville they have in one way or another alluded to the fact that they weren't playing to the usual fan base, but rather that the room was filled with other artists and musicians, adding to the pressures of the performance. Now I have seen them in many different cities playing in quite a variety of lineups from as many as 8 people on stage at Cornerstone Festival to the Jazz ensemble of this past Christmas show at the Taft, to one of the first nights of the Ohio tour seated on the floor in front of the stage in a small club in Memphis as they played a shows-worth of new songs to a stone-faced crowd who mostly had not yet bought the album, to just K&L alone on a stage in New Orleans opening for the Cowboy Junkies... to countless other nights where I have spent God only knows how much time and money driving God only knows how many miles to witness that mystery, that beauty, that indescribable thing that is "Over The Rhine" and I have NEVER been disappointed. (Unless you count the occasional cancelled show ) So Brent... Welcome to the Orchard, the people here are not shy... Brad