Old School

Ah, the wonders of modern technology. A little while ago I ended up connecting with an old friend on Facebook. Five years ago Eliza moved to London with nothing but her guitar and a credit card. She played in the tube stations, met the love of her life and is now playing gigs in London and, last night, in Salt Lake City.

I went up with my friend Erin and we got to the Nobrow Coffee Shop just as the first set was ending. The first performer was also named Eliza Wren. What are the chances of that?

The place got crowded pretty quickly, there was another act before Eliza and Erin hadn't had anything to eat, so we went out to explore the area. We found Sicilia Pizza on 300 S and we loved it. I think what we loved the most was that the girl behind the counter hardly spoke any English at all. We felt like we were back in Italy. We finished our pizza just in time to head back over to Nobrow and hear Eliza.

On the way back we passed a little hole-in-the-wall venue that had some seriously angry music blaring from the open door. The name of the band was painted on the window and it was seriously offensive. I was doing a double take to see if someone had seriously written that on a public window when a policeman on a bike who was stopped on the same corner as we were told us not to look.

I guess chivalry is not dead. I love that he tried to protect us from that garbage.

Anyway, Eliza was great. She is so incredibly talented. She makes everything seem so effortless. She is talented in a way that when you watch her you know it would take more effort that you could ever imagine to even try to be anything like her, and yet she is herself with such grace. As I watched her I kept thinking about how Eliza was living the dream. She had thrown everything that was superfluous to her dreams to the side and had embraced everything she loved the most. I don't know if I could ever be that brave. I think I will just keep being brave in my own way and loving those who are maybe a little more brave.

After the show there was a brief and mildly awkward high school reunion and then we snuck out. It was too hot, but in the end, it was a lovely evening.

You can check Eliza's music out at http://www.elizawrenpayne.com