Ryan Adams "Answering Bell"

I had heard stories about Adam Duritz of Counting Crows taking refuge from fame by continuing to work as a bartender. And while I believed it, it was certainly still strange to see him right in front of me serving a drink.

It was especially strange, since he wasn't serving a drink at a bar, he was serving it on-stage.

He simply delivered a drink to Ryan Adams, and quickly exited the stage.

This was at Ryan Adams' show at the Paradise in Boston, October 2001, just after his "Gold" album came out. Adam Duritz had been a guest on the record, but the audience was surprised and delighted to see Duritz emerge from the wings just 3 songs into the show to recreate his back-up part of "Answering Bell."

I thought that maybe he'd stick around and be part of the fun---athletes don't want to sit on the bench---but after that song, he waved to the crowd and slipped backstage.

I wasn't surprised to see him come back on stage 20 minutes later, but I assumed it was to sing.

Nope. He just brought Mr. Adams a cocktail.

When he came out again, I thought, "Surely he'll sing this time."

Nope. Just delivering another drink. If you didn't know it was Adam Duritz, you wouldn't have even noticed him. He was just a roadie, unobtrusively slipping in and slipping out.

He did come out and sing one more time, when Adams covered "Rocketman," but that was it.

At the time, Duritz was a much bigger star than Adams. I thought it was a real display of restraint and humility, for him to behave more like a roadie who got to sing a little back up. Much respect for that.


See the video on Youtube.

I found a bootleg of this whole show. Wow!