My Days Chasing Taylor: The Beginning

Back when I was young and impressionable (ahem...4 years ago), I had a massive crush, both musically and otherwise, on Taylor Hicks. It was right after his American Idol win, so he was pretty much the most talked-about guy in the country, and I wanted in on the action. We don't get a lot of celebrities around here in Alabama, and not only was he a celebrity, but he was OUR celebrity. He was from right here where I'm from. He walked the same humble streets I walk and went about his life in the same places I do. This probably had a great deal to do with why my obsession with him took over my life. He was accessible.
But I'm not talking about Taylor Hicks 4 years later because he was the first famous person I ever met. I met Chris Daughtry, too, and I couldn't care less about that now. My silly, fangirly infatuation was the beginning of my education about, appreciation of and devotion to music.
Well, that's not entirely true, because I've been listening to The Beatles since I was a fetus and I know the back story behind every Bruce Springsteen song, so I've always had an appreciation for music in general. But I had never delved into the world of music, specifically music born and bred in Alabama, and in the months and years that followed Taylor's Idol win, I really delved in. This time in my life, when I first listened, really listened to Taylor's music and the music of the talented musicians he surrounded himself with, is when my interest was sparked.
I went to stand in the scorching-hot Alabama sun, packed in tight between the buildings of downtown Birmingham with several hundred of my closest friends and fellow Taylor fans, to see the man himself perform his first post-Idol live show. He was backed by Little Memphis Blues Orchestra, who I would be seeing plenty more of in the coming years, and he played a fairly short set at City Stages. I, like most everyone else there, had only seen the Taylor from the hit TV show. We had no idea who he really was, but he started showing us that day. All I knew when I walked away was that I wanted more. Lots more. And I set out to get it. My obsession was born.