A remembrance in three parts...

Everyone has their story about September 11, 2001. This is mine, in three parts, spread across a decade.

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Here's something I started writing September 12, 2002...

The line doesn't come as often as it once did, but occasionally I do say "Words are my life."

If only I could describe how many times words have actually failed me.

Sept. 10, 2001 (c) Ed Rode 

Like when I was driving an SUV down the Jersey Turnpike and I hear the words over the two-way, "Guys, you better turn on your radio. Something just happened in New York City."

You know how you start to use a phrase to describe someone, and it starts sticking, no matter what circumstance you're using it in, and even if the person you're talking to knows exactly who you're talking about? I'm pretty sure I've described Ed Rode to his wife as "my buddy Ed."

My buddy Ed called me sometime in the summer of 2001 to tell me about this freelance gig he was going to be part of, and wanted to know if I wanted to come along. I don't remember the date, but I remember taking the call. I was on my cell phone in the middle of Hickory Hollow Mall, fresh from a haircut and sort of wandering aimlessly, as I had no particular place to be that afternoon. Such is the life of a freelance writer.

Things left unsaid...

Or untweeted.

I made a vow to myself that I would experience U2's first Nashville show in three decades through the highest-res image processors I possess...my own two eyes. OK, yes, I did have my crappily trusty Nikon point-and-shoot, but other than that, I was bound and determined not to tweet the show away, to live in the moment that was in front of me.

I maintained radio silence. I reveled in the event taking place. I sweated my posterior off. And I was reminded of the simple power of rock 'n' roll, and the humanity of people who do it really, really well.

That doesn't mean I wasn't thinking in 140-character chunklets. So imagine, if you will, what I might have said had the phone been on...

"One day, you'll be cool."

A couple of threads emerged from the stories told Wednesday night at “When Love Comes To Town: A U2 Tribute” at Downtown Presbyterian Church.

One, most every artist who told a story of how they came to know the Dublin quartet spoke of an older sibling or family member that introduced them to the band’s music.

And two, most came to that music at a time in their lives when they were profoundly uncool.

(The above headline comes from a seminal moment in the Cameron Crowe film “Almost Famous,” when William Miller’s older sister Anita is leaving home and leaving her music collection for him as a means of escape. She grasps him by both shoulders, looks him squarely in the eyes and dispenses this prophecy: “One day, you’ll be cool.” Which of course, because William is destined to become a Music Journalist, never comes true.)

The revealing factor is that, for most people, U2 was Somebody Else’s Band first. Which is good. It’s a grounding thing that helps connect that music with a time, a place, a person around which one can build their own interaction and history. They just didn't stumble across it via some mass media avenue; there was a flesh and blood and emotional connection there that was carried through the music.

Faraway, so close...

After beginning the month with my annual immersion into the world of commercial country music (see below and thanks per usual to the fine folks at USA TODAY for giving me the reins again), it's time to put thought into the upcoming extravaganza that is U2's first Nashville show in nearly three decades.

Say what you will about the Irish quartet...and many have, especially in the wake of their recent Glastonbury Festival headlining gig. But what I saw from the video feeds coming out of Glasto Friday night were 80,000-plus faces, in the rain, waving flags and singing along with every word.

So, for this week in Nashville, if you're a U2 hater, do us all a favor...keep it to yourself. The faithful have been waiting a long damn time for this, and we intend to enjoy every second.

Which will also include an incredibly cool show Wednesday night at Downtown Presbyterian Church titled "When Love Comes To Town: A U2 Tribute" which will include a boatload of Nashville's most talented artists covering U2 songs with the suggested cover donation going to The Contributor, Nashville's newspaper devoted to helping the homeless. (In other words, a good time for a good cause.)

Meanwhile, I'm going back into the photo archives from 2009 and pulling up some shots from the Georgia Dome, the first time I took a ride on the Irish spaceship...

U2 360 ATL

It’s a wrap for CMA festival, 40 years young

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson for USA TODAY

The fans "have been wonderful," says Trace
Adkins who lost his home in a fire
June 4. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

By all accounts, Nashville’s CMA Music Festival is holding up pretty well at age 40. From the return of Dolly Parton to the introduction of American Idol’s Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, country music present and future unfolded this weekend in Nashville in front of appreciative, if overheated, fans.

Ready for the ride: In preparation for his Get Closer tour, which launches Thursday in Biloxi, Miss., Keith Urban invited in several hundred fans and industry onlookers for an 11-song glimpse at Municipal Auditorium, where he has been rehearsing. The new stage set, including a huge circular projection screen and roller-coaster-like rigging above and in back of the stage with rolling lights, is a far cry from Urban’s club days coming up. Back then, “I bought four sections of prefabbed white picket fence,” Urban says. “I hung them from the ceiling and put lights through them. So to go from that, to be able to put this together, there’s no shortage of gratitude.”

JaneDear girls hit the big stage at CMA Fest

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — Sunday at CMA Music Festival featured a break in the weather — if you call closer to 90 degrees than 100 a break — but hardly a let-up in the star power or array of musical styles featured within the event.

The JaneDear girls play CMA Music
Festival's LP Field Stage.
(Wade Payne/AP)

Everything from the return of late ’80s progressive country duo Foster & Lloyd to the shoot-‘em-up (meaning whiskey rather than bullets) snark of Sunny Sweeney to the neo-traditionalism of Terri Clark took its turn under the bright Sunday afternoon skies.

Hello, Dolly! Sunday’s festivities marked superstar Dolly Parton’s return to the fan festival, signing autographs for a select group of 40 contest winners — befitting the event’s 40th anniversary — as throngs of onlookers snapped photos within Fan Fair Hall inside the Nashville Convention Center. Parton had last taken part in an autograph session at the event in its earliest days in the mid-’70s.

Gone like that: Josh Kelley— brother of Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and husband of actress Katherine Heigl— praised the resiliency of the CMA Fest crowd while introducing latest single Gone Like That during his Sunday afternoon Riverfront Park set. “You’re tanned, you’ve got smiles on your faces — and you’re hammered.”

Weekend adds to CMA Music Festival feel

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — Saturday at the CMA Music Festival always seems to take on a different feel, as Nashville’s regular downtown denizens have finished their workweek and the festival-goers truly take over. Music echoes constantly from block to block as eight different stages open to the public feature artists all day long. Newcomers and familiar faces alike are found on stages, in autograph booths, and sometimes in impromptu meetups, with fans’ point-and-shoot cameras further illuminating the already sunny Middle Tennessee afternoon.

Scotty McCreery poses for a portrait
before performing at the CMA Music
Festival. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

Idol country: As expected, some of the biggest buzz surrounded country’s newest ambassadors, American Idol’s top two finishers Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina. (Check out a recap of their CMA Fest experience, including exclusive comments from the USA TODAY portrait room, at idolchatter.usatoday.com.) From this reporter’s observation, McCreery brought about the most extended individual freakout witnessed in 10-plus years of covering the event. After exiting the autograph line at the Idolwinner’s appearance in Fan Fair Hall Friday afternoon, a teenage girl walks over to her waiting family, very quietly says, “I got his signature” once before shrieking the phrase at the top of her lungs four more times and then breaking down in tears. That, dear reader, is a fan.

Yes, this happened...

Kristin Chenoweth, left...
(Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

(and yes, that's the original cutline USAT photo editor Jym Wilson wanted to put on the photo...)

I hope the lovely-and-talented Ms. Chenoweth realizes the magnitude of me being photographed, in shorts, after a day of wandering among the masses at CMA Music Festival, and then having it posted on the website of the nation's largest newspaper (depending on the day). She looks fantastic...I look like a schmuck.

Seriously, she was a tremendous sport about it all. Jym and Bob had her run through the traditional gamut of things they do in the USAT portrait room, when Jym said, "OK, we have got to get a shot of the two of you together." He hadn't even finished the sentence when Kristin kicked off her heels and was all about it.

And as I was doing my normal "lean in so there's some semblance of being in the same shot" that I do when taking photos with other people, she bellows "Don't you DARE lean over!"

Yes, dear reader, a 4'11 blonde Broadway star yelled at me, albeit in fun. The things I do for a national byline...

Sugarland, Urban highlight day 2 at CMA Fest

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — Nashville’s status as the home of country music tends to leave people with the impression of a genteel Southern town that just happens to be a haven for the musically creative.

Which it is. But it’s also a fully functioning mid-sized American city, so when you take over a good portion of downtown with stages and exhibits and tractor trailers and tens of thousands of extra people wandering around, Friday afternoon commutes can get a little extra dicey.

Sugarland's Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles
strike up air guitars before playing CMA Music Festival.
(Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

Still, CMA Music Festival, celebrating its 40th birthday and 10 years since the move into downtown Nashville, has proven itself a well-oiled machine, programming stages and events during the day that allow fans to easily transition from one place to the next before the exodus across the river to LP Field for the nightly concerts featuring some of country’s biggest names.

Some of Friday’s daytime highlights included both debuts and re-debuts, as Shania Twain made her CMA Fest return to sign copies of her new autobiography From This Moment On before introducing Sugarland at LP Field Friday night. Meanwhile, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina made their first stop at Fan Fair Hall, the artist/fan meetup hub within the Nashville Convention Center, signing and posing for almost two hours before heading off to the Grand Ole Opry to make their debut on the venerable radio show.

CMA Music Festival showcases country artists big and small

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — By all accounts, the CMA Music Festival is holding up pretty well at age 40.

Brad Paisley performs during CMA Music Festival
at Nashville's LP Field. (Wade Payne/AP)

While longtime festival-goers and music industry folk alike can lapse and call it “Fan Fair” out of sheer habit, young talent is also well-served at the venerable annual gathering of country music fans.

From the buzz surrounding American Idol final duo of Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina to the dozens of up-and-coming artists getting a chance to showcase their talents on stages around Nashville, country music’s future continues to unfold in front of appreciative, if warm, crowds.

Thursday continued a string of a dozen straight days of temperatures above 90 degrees in Middle Tennessee, and traveling from stage to stage to check out new music meant getting your sweat on, whether you wanted to or not.