by Don Botch, Reading, PA

Chalk this up as an ode to rock ‘n’ roll … and, of course, to Jackie. I was going to tell you that my most memorable musical moment was seeing James Taylor at the Mann in August 1982 — just before leaving for my senior year of college — with a girl named Jackie who I liked a whole lot but wasn’t dating. There’s just something about being young and sitting on a blanket under a star-filled sky with a beautiful girl who you don’t quite have the nerve to reach out and touch, while “Fire and Rain” fills the night air. It’s like you have the whole wide world right at your fingertips and you just need to reach out and embrace it. That was definitely a night to remember.

But then I saw Josh Ritter’s Free at Noon at World Cafe Live 25 years later, in August 2007, on what happened to be my 46th birthday. What a performance by a great young artist whose songs were every bit as infectious as the smile he flashed for the entire hour-long perfomance. The whole experience felt like being on the cusp of something great, from the opening number “Mind’s Eye” through his fidgety but oh-so-funny interview with Helen to the encore cover version of Springsteen’s “The River” and Ritter’s own “Kathleen.” Wow! It’s hard to imagine a better way to spend an hour on a Friday afternoon with your clothes on. And that girl Jackie from the James Taylor concert? She’s now my wife of 20 years, and she was right there at my side while Josh and his band rocked on, smiling all the while, every bit as beautiful as ever.