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”Everything I’ve ever done has prepared me for this moment.” Gossard’s gibe hides a grain of truth. ”Yeah,” Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard drawls sarcastically. At that, the boyish figure fetal-balled into the chair opposite Droge looks over. ”All the places I’ve ever rehearsed have been freezing,” Droge says good-naturedly, lounging in a sixth-floor dressing room. But Pete Droge, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter who’s making his Late Show debut tonight, is accustomed to severe conditions. David Letterman keeps his studio so cold that balding straight man Paul Shaffer wears a blue ski jacket to rehearsal.
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