*The below story really touched me. It reminds me of how a few months ago I reached out to Nick Hornby and I received a sweet lil note back thanking ‘me’ for my patronage. Who doesn’t like receiving words of wisdom from people they admire be it famous or not so famous. That said, there is something about Eddie that intrigues me.
In the early days of Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder was determined to maintain his “everyman” status. He would be the anti-rock star, a person befitting Pearl Jam’s “band of the people” stance.
On October 18, 1993, he went so far as to give out his personal phone number on an internationally-syndicated radio show. For the next ten days, he spent three hours a day taking calls from fans. Sometimes they’d chat and sometimes Eddie would sing them weird little songs like “Don’t Pick Up that Fork.”
The number was eventually disconnected but during the time it was active, many people were shocked that they were actually able to get through to the singer of Pearl Jam.
Can you imagine him doing that today?
I can’t imagine Eddie giving out his number on the radio but I do believe that he does still try to connect with fans in an intimate way. I have been to many Pearl Jam concerts and a couple E.V. solo shows and much in the way that Bruce Springsteen can make a 30,000 arena feel like it’s your living room… it truly feels like Eddie cares as much about the fan that paid $400 for his VIP front row ticket as he does for the person at the back that scraped together the $45 to see his first show. He connects with everyone in their own way… whether you go to a show to laugh, to cry, or just as a fun night out I think Eddie makes sure that he speaks to all.