Tuesday, 06 September 2005 | Excitable

During the opening band, about 30 minutes before Richard began to play, I noticed a man sitting across the room from me. It was a remarkably narrow room; if we both stretched an arm out toward each other, we probably could've touched fingers.

He had a long gray ponytail and thick glasses that made his eyes appear to be unnaturally large, as if they belonged to a nocturnal animal of some sort. Almost right away I could tell he was crazy, since the first thing he did was look in my direction, gum his lips in an exaggerated fashion, draw an index finger across his throat, and then play dead.

He was excitable. He went on to sing loud made-up lyrics, ask the man on stage whether he could borrow his guitar "for just five minutes!!" and repeatedly whispered in my ear, hand cupped around his mouth, giving me urgent-sounding messages, which oscillated between harsh criticism and lavish praise. I tried not to encourage him, because he was so disruptive and unpredictable, but secretly I kind of liked him.