Annie Waits

If you're going to be friends with me, associate with me, interact with me or follow my blog, you're going to be exposed to way more Ben Folds than you'd probably wish for.  Today I woke up with a great song of his playing in my head, ANNIE WAITS from his 2001 album "Rockin' The Suburbs."

I love this song, I hope you'll listen to it:

This song is about an elderly woman, Annie who seems to be waiting for someone in her life to come make something interesting happen, whether it's someone she loves or cares about.  Folds has many songs where he paints pictures (with lyrics) of characters like Annie and I love the way he tells a story with his catchy tunes.  Frankly, I've never understood why Ben Folds isn't all over the radio and television with his music.  He's a tremendously gifted songwriter... maybe it's the piano... maybe it's his voice, which isn't as strong as other artists who appeal to the masses, maybe his music is crap?  I don't get it, honestly, but for me, he can do little wrong and I love all his songs. 

I'm going to share a story with you, only because this song, ANNIE WAITS, makes me think of a woman I met several years ago, who happened to be named Annie and was possibly the most interesting person I've ever met.  I hope I don't bore you with too many details, but I was fascinated with Annie and her one-of-a-kind personality and beliefs.  

It happened one night when I was in college, eating at a fancy restaurant at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City.  I was poor and couldn't really afford to be there, but my friend waited tables there and really we were just hanging out.  Next to us sat a woman, alone, eating her dinner and sipping wine.  She was probably in her late sixties or early seventies and I'll never forget what she was wearing.

White go-go boots:

A straw hat like this:

And a dress kind of like this, but white in color:

We noticed her next to us, and my friend who was waiting tables mentioned that she was extremely strange.

We were a group of about 6 or 7 people, all in college- all loud and poorly mannered, but we were having a good time, when this woman, Annie got up from her table and approached us.  She had a thick Australian accent and looked as if she had lived a long, hard and interesting life.

"Excuse me, I'm not from here and I was wondering, what does one do in Salt Lake City to pass time, or have fun?"  I don't remember all the details of our first conversation, but I know she explained that she was from Australia and she showed of her go-go boots, which she called "space boots."  She wanted to put Velcro to the bottom of the boots, and use them on a spaceship so that she wouldn't float, you know... put Velcro on the ship as well so that you could walk around freely.  

We were fascinated with this odd character, and before long, Annie was sitting with us at our table discussing some of her bizarre beliefs that were centered around space and reincarnation.  

Our group of friends was on our way to a housewarming party, by way of this restaurant.  One of us had the brilliant idea to invite Annie along and she happily obliged!  I remember well, that she hadn't finished her glass of Merlot and somehow convinced her waiter to put the rest of her drink into a styrofoam cup with a lid and we were on our way!

The host of our part was extremely upset that we brought Annie along.  I feel bad about this now, after all, she wasn't invited and she was beyond strange.  At the party, she stole the show as she began to tell stories about the former life (she had somehow channeled) when she lived on Saturn with her family. 

The story goes that, millions of years ago, Saturn was inhabited by humans.  There was a giant war when the planet became dangerous and uninhabitable, she and her family decided to board a space craft and head for earth where they could populate the planet peacefully.  But something went wrong!  As they were approaching earth their spacecraft crashed and everybody died.  

Yes, a sad story indeed, but Annie had found a solution to find peace with this former life.... and the reason she, with all her eccentricities, had decided to come and visit Utah...

As she had come to learn of this former life as a Saturnian, and this horrible crash that ended that life for her, she discovered that the space craft had crashed right at the point where the four corners meet of present day New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah:

She had traveled to Utah, and was planning to rent a helicopter the following day and fly to the four corners "to make a safe landing this time."  

!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not making this story up, this really happened!

As she was explaining all of this to us, in our friend's new house, with our immaturity and energy, we could hardly contain ourselves.  She knew we were laughing at her, yet she carried on about all this as if the things she were saying were completely normal.  I'm certain that Annie was fully convinced in what she believed.

Before long, my friend had kicked us all out and we took Annie back to the hotel.  We were invited to come along with her to the four corners and we tried really hard to go, but we were busy with work and school and unfortunately, this night was the last time we saw Annie.

And now that I look back on this night, I'm happy that I met Annie.  She was different, unique, uninhibited.  Her beliefs were unconventional, and I probably didn't give her the respect she deserved.  I feel bad about this.  But she was authentic.   She was cool.  And it makes me wish, that all of us could be a little less uptight, and inhibited.  I think if we all let some of our eccentricities come out, that life would be a little more interesting.  And really, if you put any of our religious beliefs on paper, they are just as strange and bizarre and Annie's were to us that night.