Monday, September 1, 2008

Running Down a Dream

My three best friends and I recently attended a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Concert in The Woodland's Texas - the last concert of his 2008 tour. In my reflections of the GREAT time that we had, I got to thinking (something that will have all three of these same friends groaning....). Who really is Tom Petty's biggest fan? So, I think if you can answer any of the following, you might just be Tom Petty's biggest fan.





You Might be Tom Petty's Biggest Fan if:

1. You have over 270 of his greatest hits on your I-pod


2. You know the set list of all his concerts


3. You know his biography, probably better than he knows himself


4. You know that Johnny Depp appeared in his 1991 music video, "Into the Great Wide Open"


5. You know his date and year of birth


6. You know that Tom is ranked number 9 on rock.com's top 25 solo rock artists of all time.


7. You know that "Free Falling" is ranked number 82 on rock.com's top 500 classic rock songs of all time.


8. You know his character on "King of the Hill" is named Lucky


9. You know the names of his two daughters


10. You can name the artists for whom Tom played back-up guitar and/or vocals on their albums


11. You can name all the instruments that Tom can play and which songs he plays them


12. You can name all the previous names of his current band, the Heartbreakers, as well as original members, et. al.


13. You know that Tom talked Benmont Tench, Jr. into letting his son, Benmont Tench III drop out of college to join his band.


14. If you know that screaming "Whoooo - Tom Petty" and high-fiving every stranger you meet DOES NOT make you Tom Petty's number one fan.





I have determined, through non-funded research, that my friend Cathy Littleton is most likely THE MOST knowledgable person on Tom Petty to ever hit the streets, and she loves the man more than anyone else I know (and I know A LOT of people). She may not know who "made the pizza'' in the Travelling Wilburys DVD, released in 2007, but it has been determined, through additional research, that no one but ONE person in the whole world gives a rats ass about that fact.





Some other things my recent "research" has led me to think about: