photo by Tom Ciaburri

While in the grocery store the other day, my husband and I had an encounter that wasn’t extraordinary, but to me further solidified the impact Music Maker has on our artists and on the outside world.

We had just gotten back into town from vacation, and realized we literally had no food in our house. Normally we don’t love to buy groceries on Sunday afternoons – everyone shops on Sunday afternoons here, and the stores, from the parking lot to the lines, are completely nuts. But, we braved it and fought valiantly to get a suitable number of things to get us through the week. We spent about 40 minutes in line, and we were not in great moods by the time we were greeted by the cashier. My husband was sporting some shin-bruises from those tiny shopping carts they have available for children, and he was anxious to get to the car.

The cashier stopped scanning though, in the middle of our purchase, and looked at my husband’s shirt. It’s an Ironing Board Sam shirt (get one of your own at his shows, they’re great!) and the cashier, a young man in his 20s, exclaimed, “I got to see Ironing Board Sam live! He’s great.” He continued ringing up our things and we got to talking about Sam, how I work for Music Maker, and how we helped Sam re-invigorate his career. The cashier didn’t know too much about Music Maker – he sure does now! – but he knew that he loved Sam’s music, and he was really excited that Sam lived near him and played gigs around town. My husband began recounting how much he loved Sam’s gold lamé suit, and other Sam-related trivia, while helping bag our groceries

We tried not to hold up the rest of the extensive line, but we were thrilled that we’d run into someone who valued Sam’s music, and, by proxy, Music Maker’s efforts to get him and other artists out there into the public eye. You really never know where you’re going to find the next devoted fan. My husband has never gotten so much attention as when he steps out of the house in that Ironing Board Sam shirt – and talking with another Sam-fan definitely took some of the sting out of those shin-bruises.