Rhett Plays the ‘Rette Party!
You know, I thought I had the greatest friends ever when I turned 28 and they threw me a surprise birthday party. I’d always wanted one, and somehow they knew. Well, now I am on the cusp of getting married, and somehow they knew that I’d always wanted Rhett Miller to play a private show for me, and guess what? THAT HAPPENED. The hype had been building for months: Matron of honor Holly, in particular, displayed nothing but supreme confidence that this was going to be pretty much the best thing ever. The secrecy was so intense that non-bridesmaid guests were not even informed of the activities taking place. I was intrigued. Holly is a master planner, but we’re talking about a bachelorette party. How great could it possibly be? But Leanne was flying in from San Francisco for it. What could it be??
It started out with a really nice dinner at Apizz on the Lower East Side: delicious cocktails and wine and pasta. There was a lot of checking of the time, and then we had to hustle on out of there, Holly in the lead, hotfooting it due east. There was a schedule, people. We made it to Lolita, and oh, there are all my friends; hi, friends! We all had to go downstairs to the basement, where a microphone was set up, and someone told me that everyone had prepared a song for me. I believed this, because I am totally gullible. But first there was a game of 20 Questions, in which I had to guess what Carl had answered to a series of questions about me and him and us and all that good stuff. We got to the question, “What are Catherine’s three favorite bands?” and I answered, “Guided by Voices, Old 97s, and….the Hold Steady?” And then who comes walking down the stairs at that very moment (unplanned!) but RHETT EFFING MILLER.
I pretty much lost my shit at this moment. He came over to where I was sitting and said congratulations and gave me a hug, and some other pleasantries were exchanged, and then he went and played an amazing, long set of my favorite songs, which the bridesmaids had gotten together and prepared. He played “Curtain Calls” (which he never plays!), and “Wish the Worst,” and “You Belong to My Heart” — it was a dream setlist. And he tossed his hair and swivelled his hips like he always does, and we all danced around like idiots like we usually do, so it felt like a real show. He even did an encore where he went backstage and waited for us to demand more songs! I think that even Rhett had a good time. And then we gave each other a big sweaty hug when he was done. Later Betsy would call him and demand he come out to Iggy’s. He refused, but that was okay. Dudes, RHETT MILLER PLAYED MY BACHELORETTE PARTY.
I mean, what an amazing thing! Holly said she had been planning it since before we were engaged (she and Rhett have a mutual friend, see). I seriously can’t believe they pulled off what has to be the coolest thing anyone’s ever done for me, and I love them all for it. So infinite thanks to Holly P., Tamar, Randi, Eileen, and Leanne, for being the best bridesmaids ever. You rock! (Note: Most of those photos were taken by Amy. Thanks Amy!)
