Sunday evening, Jeff Daniels walked onto the City Winery stage and curtsied to the audience, before sitting at the only chair and plugging in the only guitar. "Bears won," he said to the partisan Chicago crowd. He sang the praises of new Bear coach Ben Johnson, who arrived in the offseason from Daniels's hometown of Detroit. Technically, Jeff is from Chelsea, Michigan, a small town about 40 miles west of Detroit. One can hear the rural Midwest in his voice and mannerisms, and sometimes in his music.
He sang and played for the sold-out audience, filling the evening with mostly original music and with stories.
He recounted the time Ted Turner invited him to play during the unveiling of Turner's star on Hollywood Boulevard. Jeff lamented the fact that he does not have a Hollywood Boulevard star. He accepted, thinking this might be the closest he would ever come to getting his own star. He then launched into "Are You As Excited," a song about the fleeting nature of fame.
"Not bad for an actor," he said a couple of times during the evening. And it was true. Although Mr. Daniels is most famous for his acting career, he is also an accomplished guitarist, singer, and songwriter.
He recounted his experience singing for Kelly Clarkson. When he told her that it is ok to play guitar even if you are no good at it, Kelly looked at him with terror in her eyes. But she softened when he played "When My Fingers Find Your Strings," a love song to his guitar. Kelly liked the song so much that she and her band played it a few months later.
In introducing "Jesus Was a Stoner," he said that his research revealed that marijuana was much more potent in Biblical days. "Those of you who are religious," he quipped, "Buckle up!"
He shared a story about working with the Circle Repertory Company, an off-Broadway theater company, early in his career. They featured plays written by American playwrights, including future Pulitzer winner Lanford Wilson, who asked Daniels to write music to one of his poems.
He told of the time he passed Ryan Reynolds in a hallway. As they tried to avoid bumping into one another, Reynolds told him, "Let's take our pants off and relax." Daniels immediately went to his dressing room and wrote a song around that line. Soon after he told this story, the audience was singing along to that line.
Jeff finished the evening with a story song about the time he rented a recreational vehicle, drove across the country, and accidentally left his wife at a rest stop.
He followed with a hopeful song - "Crazy World" - to finish his set.
"This crazy world's gone crazy,
Who am I to judge?
It's nice to know, in a world full of hate,
There's someone out there still making love."
He unplugged his guitar, stood up, curtsied, and walked off stage.
We all agreed. He was much better than “Not bad.”