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[paleotrees]

Well ... I am not really the one to ask -- I have a life experience reasonably similar to theirs, and also part of my work is around ''famous'' people blithely treating them like they're not famous ... which are qualities I think actually impede my interactions with the Brothers a little bit.
Simone, at least, got really weirded out when I could quote him upstate-New York or Canadian radio station call letters and slogans, in between trading classical literary references, making puns, and downing drinks. I overstepped myself, am still embarrassed to this day, and wish I had not spoken to him at all! So you can clearly do better than that.

I think they assume that everyone else doesn't come from their background and thus doesn't have the foggiest what they're talking about. Which is not a bad thing. It definitely makes them accessible to a wider audience.
And they really like it when you DO talk to them about their music, which I didn't really do. Other than Ian, who seems to think I'm okay because I'm sort of shy and vague in public and didn't try to make him talk, they all seemed to want to be treated like ''The Felice Brothers'' as opposed to ''Ian, Jimmy, and friends from upstate.''

So I think they'd have a whole lot more fun talking to you than to someone like me. Other than Ian, who was working his telepathic powers and preferred nonverbal communication/being mute to making conversation.

That being said, educationwise -- didn't Ian study painting in Italy, and doesn't Simone have a masters' degree? I know they did live in a van for a long time ... but I seem to recall this info from a write-up of The Big Empty [band and album].

[paleotrees]

So I guess my nervousness was based upon ... ''Are they gonna think I'm smart, or that I'm a gawdamned hick? Are they gonna think I'm fun, or are they gonna think I'm TOO fun?''

Also upon the fact that they were drunk, and let's suffice to say that impulse control mechanisms were perhaps set a little lower than usual. I can party pretty well for myself, but they'd had a head start on me and it was not really the time or place to get hammered with the Felice Brothers (that day, however, may be coming).

But this time, our interaction was all of fifteen minutes long, with actual conversation/one-on-one eye contact time being maybe five total minutes. First impression -- they ended thinking I was quirky and kind of amusing. Ian seemed to think I was all right and I met James's approval at least perfunctorily. Ian and Christmas pretty much paid attention only to each other and to Gus, while James paid more attention to people who, well, seemed to want to take him home. Fair enough. I can totally dig these decisions.

In terms of A.A. Bondy -- if you want to outsmart, outsnark, or outwit him, or even match smarts snark or wits with him, you're going to have to get out of bed pretty early. I thought I was taking my 'A' game to the interaction, but he had me shot down before we even got face to face. But if you don't want to have that kind of discourse, he likes very much to tell people stories, and is very humble and gracious.

My fears were ... okay, mostly unfounded. I still wish I hadn't made the faux pas that resulted in ''Empire'' -- or at least that I had retorted to it differently. However, Gus does not remember that even happening. Macey Taylor might, but he doesn't care. With these guys, I'm golden, and so are you. See my signature quote.

[Kali Nichta]

That being said, educationwise -- didn't Ian study painting in Italy, and doesn't Simone have a masters' degree? I know they did live in a van for a long time ... but I seem to recall this info from a write-up of The Big Empty [band and album].

I was just going to bring this up.

Those men are all cunningly smart, they just don't put it on show.

[Fint42]

I was just going to bring this up.

Those men are all cunningly smart, they just don't put it on show.

[laralaurent]

Oy. Please, please don't get the impression that I am suggesting the guys are uneducated. I'm not. And I certainly don't think you have to be an attorney to be educated...

I have all the respect in the world for the guys. I meant by saying "educationally driven life" that I was a student and have really only done that my whole life. I asked about talking to the guys because compared to my similarly structured days, it must be really fulfilling to travel and to see many places. I'm not really sure how I would strike up a conversation, should that occasion ever come.

I hope that's clearer.

[paleotrees]

Oh yeah, lara, you're fine. I can't speak for anybody else, but I definitely got the intended vibe from whatcha said.

I feel you, too, but for a slightly different reason. I've lived a life that I think is what the FB try to pass off as their life ... the whole ''dropped outta school and started a traveling band'' thing. Now, I finished high school, but otherwise that's pretty much what I did. I've got the whole ''love for learning'' thing and I'm absurdly over-read, see, my problems with Simone -- but dude, I've hopped trains and lived in a bus, just like they have.

And I think it makes them a little uncomfortable. Because on one hand it makes me ... well, kinda badass, and they really like being the most badass things in a room. But it also makes me smart, and they also like being the smartest things in a room.
On the other side of the coin, it can also make me easy to pass off as a stupid, ignorant hick because I have definitely never studied painting in Italy and I don't have a degree of any kind. However, that is not the case either.

So I worry about how I come off, and that's why I wind up locked in silent eye contact with Ian a lot of the time. He and I should probably smoke opium some time or something (kidding, guys, kidding! mostly).