2003-12-23 - 11:59 a.m.

I'm very glad I went to the Elliott Smith tribute at TT's.

It opened with a video made about Elliott awhile back, but the place was so crowded (there was literally a line around the corner), we couldn't see the screen, so all the Roommate and her friend J. and I could do was listen.

When it was over, lots and lots of people played their favourite Elliott songs to the best of their abilities. There was tons of love for everyone who played and hardly anyone talked during the songs, some of which couldn't have been heard over any kind of din anyway.

I got to see Sue and Steve (from My Own Worst Enemy) play a cover, and Mary Lou Lord, who hosted, finished the night by asking everyone to sing along with her cover of Say Yes, although she didn't even have to ask, as everyone was singing along with all of the songs towards the end.

After the show I talked with some fans at ZuZu around the corner, and was again surprised at just how many people loved Elliott. Some folks came all the way from NYC and one of the bands (who gave away their CD for free to anyone who wanted one) drove all the way up from Baltimore just to play one (awesome) song.

The whole evening was quite cathartic, and I feel like I can listen to Elliott's music again, which is great because I really missed that. It is very rare to be in any environment where everyone assumes you're a good person just because you're there, let alone a show, and being surrounded by so many people who loved Elliott so much made me feel infinitely better about the whole thing.

There are some people I know who I'm sure would have loved to have been there, or who would have at least loved to see the movie. I happened to win first place in a raffle they had, and actually won the movie (Strange Parallel) that we were unable to see due to the crowd. So some time after the holiday, if people are interested, I might have a screening of the video.