stradasphere

Amazing Jouney

Waiting for the next best thing to happen! Let's start with Friday.

First thing Friday morning as my wife was getting her garage sale going, she calls me to the car to hear an interview with Pete. I missed it but heard him say they are coming to PHX in FEB! Then I get call after call from her telling me all the stuff she sold, adding up all of our fun money for our LA trip to see The Who!

Friday Night: Get to the gig with Jeff Eaton. Weird at first, the band and I were checking each other out, not knowing what the other's deal was. Then we get on stage. Unfortunately, the club owner didn't promote the gig so there was almost no one there. However, 10 people or 100, musicians should still play their heart out and we did! Any curiosity about whether the other guys or me had chops were gone after the first song. We jelled and jammed! After the first set, it was like we had been playing together forever. Then one of the guitar players, an absolute nut named Jason said something about indoctrination, and I guess they voted me in. It was just assumed that I was now apart of the band!! By the end of the night, a promoter came over from the bar next door and told Jeff he wants us to play an upcoming festival. To top it off, I saw an old friend from college who hooked me up with the gig and there was a $50.00 band bar tab! Ch-ching, gulp.

Saturday: The wife and I got a late start on the road, but we were soon jamming to The Who and I was explaining every song and what they meant to me. We road tripped like we were dating, except no funny business in the van! With no kids around we were able to relax, break the speed limit and rock and talk. We stayed in a 4 star hotel on the 24th floor. Gorgeous! We didn't get to use my Cheesecake Factory card for dinner due to travel and time contraints. After I got over a pouting bout, we were in Hollywood walking to the Bowl! One ten dollar bootleg t-shirt, two beers and a dog later...we were in our seats watching THE WHO!!!

The Show: Our seats were far back but thank God for the video screens. The back speakers were not working so we didn't get the decibal level I was hoping for but I was there. After breathing deep the surrounding air, I rocked out like I was 12! I have never been so rowdy at a concert, even when I was a kid. I let go and rocked out, laughed, screamed, and sang. My lovely wife was content listening and soaking in a surreal experience. But when they played the Tommy medley, sparks flew (pun intended!). I have seen them before, live, videos, etc., but this performance was out of control!! The energy, even from the back of the Bowl was electrifying! The windmills, the mic swings, the whole damn thing.

Later: We partied a bit with my cousin and his wife and we managed to make our train back to LA. There, buzzing still, my wife had room service for the first time in her life! We chowed and I eventually went out from exhaustion!

Home: We made it home only to find an email from Jeff Eaton saying we have a battle of the bands gig at Alice Cooperstown in two weeks. If we win, we get to play Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding show at the Dodge Theater!

And today is my annual review at work. I am hoping for a good raise and new title (promotion!).

There were so many little cosmic things that happened and continue to. In the past I would be waitng for the rug to be pulled out from underneath me. But no more. I am waiting for the next great thing to happen!

Whew!

posted by Unknown @ 1:20 PM