My Interview With Darius Rucker

The origins of this piece started years ago I guess you could say. Several years ago, when Hootie and The Blowfish were the biggest band in America. Remember those 15 minutes? It was a glorious era indeed. I thought the time was right for a Hootie resurgence, so I set out to make it happen...armed only with this laptop, a cell phone, and a dream.Tracking the band down however, would be not be easy. I started in the obvious place. The place that is the musical capital of the world this time of year, South By Southwest in Austin Texas. After making several calls though, it became apparent that somehow Hootie had fallen through the cracks and wasn't booked to play ANYWHERE in Austin during SXSW. Despite the laughing at the cursing that often greeted me at the other end of these phone calls, I was sure that this had to be some sort of administrative gaffe, as this year is the historic 14th year anniversary of the seminal Hootie album, 'Cracked Rearview.'So after my hopes off catching the band at SXWS fizzled out, I turned to plan B and went right to the record label, the legendary Sneaky Long imprint. After the first several people there failed to recognize the name of the band, I got lucky and spoke to an intern who had just opened some hate mail for the band...which brought to her attention that the band, was in fact on Sneaky Long's artist roster. Eventually, I was put in touch with somebody who was more than excited to hear that I was looking to interview with the group, believing that once it appeared on my blog(read by about 300 people a month) that it would certainly provide the spark the band needed to once again rise to it's rightful status as one of the greatest rock bands of all time.So a few days later, I am put given a number to a Red Roof Inn in Lincoln, Nebraska. Where the band is currently in the midst of a big mall tour of the Midwest(Midwest meaning Nebraska and Iowa.) After playing phone tag for a few hours, I had his holiness, the lead singer of Hootie - Mr Darius Rucker on the phone. Hallelujah.ME: So, Mr. Rucker, when you look back to your reign as one of America's biggest bands, do you do so with fondness?DARIUS: Of course, it was fun to be beloved by millions of adoring fans, but that really wasn't our scene. We - (phone rings...Darius excuses himself)Waiting patiently.DARIUS: Sorry to cut this off, but that was VHI, I got the part in the next 'Celebrity Fit Club'...I am so out of here.Click.So while the return to prominence of Hootie and The Blowfish may not be imminent, at least we will always have the music. Nobody can ever take that away from us.