The Uncoolest Cut of All

I got on a plane this morning.  Just so you know, when I fly, I don't fly first class, or super duper business class.  I fly "hold tight onto the wing so you don't fall off" class.

Anyway, I got on and my seat assignment was the middle of a three seat half-row (there were three more seats on the other side of the aisle).  So, I got there, and sat down, and said something friendly to the man in the seat next to me.  Then another man showed up and was about to sit in the aisle seat when the first one asked if I prefered the center seat, or not, and if not, could he and his friend sit together.  I don't have a preference, so I moved to the aisle, and the second man sat in the middle.

I figured they were a couple who'd had bad luck getting seats or something.

I was wrong. 

The middle man, the second one, had come onto the plane carrying a guitar case, but had to check it, and he was chatty, so he said something about being a 50 year old who still plays music, and I said I'm 50 and still listen, so what the heck, or something like that.

We chatted on a bit; the middle man, it turned out played bass, not guitar, so I asked him who he thought the best bassists were.  And we chatted a bit, and he named some names, and was pleasant enough.  He seemed at the same time a bit shy and gregarious, a bit flirty, but not in an obnoxious way at all.

He asked me about the book I was reading (The Theory Toolbox) so I explained a bit, using music examples.  And we chatted a bit off and on.

But you know how you can be having a conversation with someone, just chit chat, and one of you is talking more about himself, and not asking anything about the other?  It was like that.  I learned a bit about his genius of a record producer, about how he's working on writing music for other bands, and so on.  But it wasn't back and forth.  And that's fine, because chit chat on a plane is just chit chat on a plane.

It turned out they were also on the next flight I was on, but we weren't sitting near each other. 

And then we saw each other again waiting for our checked luggage (because I'd had to check my normal carry-on because it was so crowded, and he'd had to check his guitar, and it turned out a bunch of other stuffs).  And as he was picking up his big, hard sided cases, I thought to ask him about the name of his band.  And I vaguely recognized it.

And later, when I had computer access, I looked the band up, and yep, it was them.

Now I feel sort of bad that I didn't recognize them or know who they were.  I hope they don't feel bad.  But I can imagine their blog post (if they wrote a blog) about this woman who didn't even recognize them.