Late July

As my birthday month wraps up, I have to say that it was a good one. From attending a rodeo to attending a concert at Red Rocks, I have to say I was suitably entertained. I had a lovely party! And Miss Andrea was here for a few days to help me celebrate. I bought a way cool hat. Really, I did. Eventually I'll post a photo. The icing on the cake was Reid becoming gainfully employed once more. I still choke a bit on the number sixty, but with any luck that will become easier. I do have eleven months to practice. On with summer! August, I am ready.

The Red Rocks Experience

So. I saw Lyle Lovett last week at Red Rocks. Excellent concert! Though if I had the ear of Mr. Lovett for just a moment, I'd complain just the teensiest bit about how many songs he gave up on the playlist for other band members and guests to perform.  By my estimate, he could have filled the air with another six or seven songs from his immense backlog of material. Which would have made me happy indeed. After all, I was there to hear him play his songs! And it was a little disappointing that he didn't close the show with his song, Closing Time, if only because the subject matter is so fitting. I think my favorite moments of the show were when various members of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the opening act, and other special guests, joined in for a couple of terrific jams. I have always loved NGDB, so many of their songs are part of my life's soundtrack. Then there was this surreal moment when they were performing their 1983 hit, Dance Little Jean. My mom also loved NGDB, and she would break out in the chorus of that song from time to time in my honor. My middle name is Jean, and she always seemed to connect my middle name with me more than my first name. I welled up with tears while they sang Dance Little Jean, and found that I was unconsciously fingering the bracelet I was wearing on my right arm. A beautiful silver bracelet that had been my mother's. At the song's conclusion, I applauded in appreciation for the sweet memory that it had brought up in me, and felt the bracelet break loose and fall to the ground. It was still light outside and I found it easily just in front of my seat. As I picked it up I noticed the clasp had broken. It was as though Edna was right there with me for a moment, and was letting me know she enjoyed the song, too. I believe that objects can take on the spirit and personality of their owners, something that can linger for years after owner and object have parted ways. Mom had personality to spare, and a little of it must have rubbed off during the numerous times she wore that bracelet. When I wear it, I feel a little like she's along for the ride. i really need to get it fixed.
  

Just When You Think...

You know how it is. You wait a long time for something, years even. And this thing, whatever it might be, takes on proportions in your mind that could maybe be unattainable. No matter how great the thing is once it arrives, it was so long anticipated with delight and fervor, that the experience itself is somehow anticlimactic. Not bad, certainly better than okay, but somehow diminished and surreal. Sort of in the same way that a juicy I told you so! just doesn't provide the satisfaction you thought it might. Maybe looking a little deeper within is where the answer lies. So there! moments seem to be tainted, if even only the tiniest bit, by bitterness and rancor. And that tiny bit of venom takes the shine off even a much anticipated, much longed for event. I just had a grownup moment. At this rate, I might just get there in another thirty years or so.
  

Ladies and Gents, Lyle Lovett and his Large Band

Opening act, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on stage.  

Special guest, mandolin player extraordinaire, Sam Bush.

Mr Lovett and his large band take the stage. Though, honestly, at this level of blur, it could be anyone.

Lyle Lovett, singer, guitar player, and fast dancer. Dances so fast he cannot be captured with a regular camera.

Maybe it's not just me. Even their press photo is a little out of focus. And I'm guessing this photographer was way closer than I was up in the 38th row.

Red Rocks

Yes, that is the Denver downtown skyline in the background.

Red Rocks to my left.

Red Rocks to my further left.

The people behind me may have paid a little less for their tickets, but they had to climb higher and breathe thinner air.

Pirate guy, or rather, a guy wearing a pirate themed tshirt in front of me.

Red rocks to my right.

Based on Your Taste in Music You’re Thirty-two! Share Your Result!

Not only is the age way off, though I'm deeply flattered, but the quiz also thinks I'm a bearded man who has an iPhone. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong on all counts. I must stop wasting two to three minutes per week on these dopey quizzes. Based on the answer for this one, they're totally bogus. Bordering on fake. Seriously, I don't have nearly that many granny hairs poking out of my chin.

A Long Time Ago...

...in another college town, in another state, there was a curious boy who knew just what to do to see an image of a solar eclipse. Sigh. Sometimes I miss this little tow-headed guy. He turned out to be a pretty terrific grownup, though, so I'm glad I had so much time with him when he was growing up.