Pull Up a Chair

I just watched Song Sung Blue and I’m still crying. 💔

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s the true story of Lightning & Thunder, a husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute duo from Milwaukee played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. They weren’t famous. They got booed out of a biker bar. They were just two people who loved music and loved each other.

Then Eddie Vedder happened.🤘

Now in the movie, Mike (Jackman) gets a phone call from Eddie Vedder inviting them to open for Pearl Jam. Great scene. But I couldn’t just sit there and watch a biopic without researching every detail while it played. That’s just how my brain works. And I’m glad I did, because what actually happened is even better.

In real life, Eddie spotted them performing on the Piggly Wiggly stage at Summerfest. Not an arena. Not a showcase. The Piggly Wiggly stage. He saw a husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute act playing on a tiny sponsored stage in the middle of a music festival, and something in him said, “These people belong on my stage.” 🎤

He invited them to join Pearl Jam during the encore. In front of 24,000 people. He pulled up a chair, sat down, read the lyrics off a sheet, and sang “Forever in Blue Jeans” with them. Not as a joke. Not as a bit. He gave them the spotlight. ✨

Mike didn’t even know who Eddie Vedder was.

That moment changed everything for them. And Eddie didn’t stop there. When Neil Diamond’s publishing company tried to shut down the documentary about their story, Eddie personally called Neil Diamond and convinced him to let it happen. When the new film needed Pearl Jam’s song “Alive” (which they had NEVER licensed for a movie before), Eddie said yes.

Because he believed in their story.
Here’s what got me.

Eddie Vedder was Pearl Jam. He was grunge royalty. He could have looked at a Neil Diamond tribute act and laughed. Instead he pulled up a chair. 🪑

I think about that a lot as a founder.

How many people are performing on their own little Piggly Wiggly stage right now, doing something real, something with heart, waiting for someone to look past the packaging and see the thing that matters?

And how many of us who have a platform, even a small one, are choosing to pull up a chair for someone else?

Music does that. It strips away the rules. Eddie didn’t care about genre. He didn’t care about image. He cared about the thing that was true.

I’m a Berklee-trained musician. I spent 15 years leading worship across seven churches. Music taught me that the most powerful moments aren’t the ones you plan. They’re the ones where someone sees you, really sees you, and says “you belong here.”

That’s what I’m building with Pistachio Pay. A platform that looks at people the financial system has overlooked and says: you belong here too. 💚

Go watch Song Sung Blue. Bring tissues. 🤗