I saw My Morning Jacket, Jason Mraz, and some other up and coming musicians at the Louisville Palace about four or five years ago, and back then, I didn’t care one bit about MMJ. At the time, I was still in my post-collegiate 1990s alternative rock phase and too distracted by my new-found appreciation for Jason Mraz to be enamored with their hippy-ethereal, long haired swinging display. So it passed me right by when my husband told me during the Palace show that some of the band members were from Hikes Point where I grew up.

Fast forward to last Friday before the Waterfront Park concert- my husband and his friend Bryan (who came in from out of town to see the concert) were sitting on my couch discussing the band and the guest list for the Louisville.com after party on the Glassworks rooftop- a guest list which contained the name of the lead singer’s mother. Wait a minute… what? Something in her name rang a bell. After looking at Google for two minutes, they informed me the lead singer goes by Jim James but his real name is Jim Olliges, Jr.. Hold up… who? It was burning a hole in my brain- knowing that I knew these people from the past but not knowing how. I called my brother to see if he remembered- hadn’t he hung around some Olliges’ that lived around the corner from us growing up? I went to bed that night not having solved the mystery, and it stayed with me all the next day. Until I was in the shower on Saturday getting ready for the concert and BAM- it came to me- I was sucked back like a time machine 20 years or so ago to the Olliges kitchen in Hikes Point where I used to babysit on a regular basis for little JIMMY Olliges and his younger twin sisters. It made sense immediately- of course the quiet, glasses-wearing, slightly angst filled little Jimmy could get revenge on everyone by growing up to be a rock star. But- he had been so reserved as a child- could it be true? Towel-laden and dripping wet, I couldn’t wait to get out of the shower and see his face on the internet… yep, just like one of those missing child posters where they morph the face of the child into adult form, it was him alright. I confirmed with my childhood best friend whose family knows everyone that ever attended St. Martha, where we all went to grade school.

Going to the concert after that was a little surreal for me- after all, it’s not every day you used to hang out with (check that- I mean be in charge of) someone who frequents MTV, Rolling Stone and Spin Magazine, and movie sets (like one of my favorites- Elizabethtown- didn’t recognize him in the “Freebird” scene the first five times I saw that either). In a true VH1 Behind the Music moment twenty years ago (scene: me the babysitter, he the kid who thought he was too old to have a babysitter) he got in trouble with me for cursing in front of his sisters- and as they say if looks could kill…as I listened to him drop the F-bomb and MF-bomb in liberal doses on stage Saturday night, I couldn’t help but think in some small way he was still rebelling against my strict babysitting ways. Well, Jim James, if you ever read this blogalou, I still think you should watch your mouth, especially during an all ages show where I know your mother was in attendance. But, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume all the five year olds that came to the concert with their parents- and your mother- were probably obscured by your cape and all the smoke. Superfluous expletives and capes aside, excellent show, little Jimmy. REALLY excellent. Keep making Louisville proud.