Riviera Paradise: Hauntingly Beautiful

Atlanta somehow managed to mostly ignore Stevie. I had one friend who talked about him, but I only heard a couple of songs, and they didn't do that much for me at the time. Then I moved out to Austin.

The first time I heard "Riviera Paradise" I was driving home from work around midnight. Jay Trachtenberg or one of the other long term icons at KUT or KLRU introduced it by reminiscing that many times at Antone's after a show, when the crowd had mostly gone and only the last few hangers on were around, Stevie would come sit on the edge of the stage with the lights down low and play this. I could see it in my mind's eye, feel the room, smell and taste the air. I was totally there, caught up in the moment with Stevie and his most loyal fans. I have no recollection of the next ten miles of MoPac.

I fell in love with Stevie, hook, line, and sinker.

Years later I finally went to a concert at Antone's. I hung around after Alien Love Child was done just to drink the place in. The techs dimmed the lights and put this song through the sound system. That radio intro came back to mind. I nearly cried. I don't recall leaving or driving home; I just woke up when the alarm went off the next morning, thinking it had to be a dream.

Wish I could have seen Stevie play. Wish I'd known him.

One day.

(This song still sends shivers up my spine.)

[Studio version from In Step]