The Last Few Days...

In the last few days, life has shown me some things about myself. I can honestly say that I like who Ive become. Being in my 40s is nowhere near as dreary as I thought it would be! It's definitely never boring!

Friday, I debated all day whether or not to go see SUN Records legend, Sonny Burgess and his band The Pacers. Normally you'd think that I'd jump at the chance to see one of the originators of the music I love...but I've seen Sonny a bunch of times over the past 14 years and I can honestly say, he was best the 1st time. I was also reticent to spend $15 to see him...but as my friends Wes & Mike's new band was also on the bill, and I'd come into some extra cash, I decided what the hell.

My friends' band ARR, were really good. Just good old fashioned rockin' hillbilly boogie kinda stuff. No showboating, just good music. Then Sonny and Co. came on and I knew life was about to get weird.

When Sonny put The Pacers back together in 2001 or so, I shared billing with them on a few festivals down south. I was not impressed. Down there, they did their 'casino' show...lots of "oldies" and only a few ventures into Sonny's own great repetoire. Alas, this gig was much the same...although thankfully they left out the Charlie Daniels covers. But to see a musician of Sonny's reknown opening with "Wooly Bully"...and then sleazing into one predicatable cover after another was just disappointing. Granted, Sonny & Co. are all in their 70s...so I wasn't expecting psychobilly or anything...but did we really need to hear his bass player warble his way through "Okie From Muskogee" (a personal fave song of mine BTW)? The guys looked like they'd rather be watching Matlock than putting on a R&R show (which they did in name only). Much to my chagrin, they opted to NOT play "Red Headed Woman" (if they did, I musta missed it!) or "Sadie's Back In Town". All in all, it was a good night though. I got to see a bunch of good friends, was entertained by at least the 1st band, and got to have a few frothy cold ones. I was even slightly embarrassed by my friend Lisa's repeatedly bragging up my voice to her friend as "the sexiest she's ever heard". I highly recommend she broaden her listening pleasures. LOL I most often think I sound like a hog caller who's gargled broken glass...but I digress...

Saturday...always a good day to sleep in. Which is exactly what I did. Made a few phone calls when I got up and started making plans to purchase a new gee-tar (but more about that later). The SO was heading outta town to visit the fam, so I had a night to myself. I'd already made plans to go see my friend Andrew's 2nd show after his return to the world of drag performing. (drag as in men dressed as women, not hot rods at high speeds) I view drag as performance art. Nothing more. Most of it is just AWFUL but every now and then, ya see a good show. Andrew does such a show. The lil redneck really should become a professional dancer! I don't know anyone, male-female-or otherwise undecided, who can move like he does...and in 4-5" platform heels to boot! The other performers on the bill, knowing full well there was no way to really compare to Andrew, opted for "grotesque" rather than talent. But they did it with humor and a certain amount of flair (which one would expect at a drag show LOL). With Thanksgiving upon us, food was the theme of the show. And food was everywhere. From the one queen throwing sugar every where to another dry humping a box of Stove Stop stuffing, to another pouring milk all over himself...it was a mess! LOL Cake and pie was added to the mix and I'm sure you can guess the outcome. Stage sludge EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!! It was like Rocky Horror meets Animal House! The queens did a finale where they had a food fight onstage and wound up slipping all over themselves and landing in a heap (unplanned). While odd, it was an entertaining show. And I'm glad that I'm secure enough in who I am to be able to go out and enjoy that kind of whackiness! Mind you, its not for everyone.

Sunday...up around 10:30 and looking out at a beautiful day. Low 60s and sunny. Who says we never have good weather in Pittsburgh?! The deal was made to go pick up my new guitar (Gibson-made Epiphone dobro...now dubbed the Dobrophone. Had to drive to Washington, PA to make the transaction. I was A-OK with that as I got the guy to drop $75 off of his asking price! WOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!! The drive to Washington was smooth sailing...nary a cop in sight! The sun was out, I had the windows down and I really enjoyed the ride. I don't know why, but I always catch myself doing 75+ mph on this particular stretch of I-79! Sunday was no exception. I made it there and back in under an hour. No sooner was I home with The Dobrophone than I planted myself out on the porch and played old country blues for an hour or so. As the sun was working it's way down, I moved my impromptu performance indoors and kept on playing until the phone rang.

My jubilant mood was depressed a bit by the phone call. A dear friend, and some would say "ex" of mine, was calling from the county jail. Long story short, she has some issues. Those issues are why we're just friends now. If you've ever received a collect call from the Allegheny county jail, you know that you get 30 seconds of talk time, followed by a prompt to set up an account so the inmate can call you. The prompt, however, didn't work and I was never able to set up the account. My friend had to keep getting back in line to call over and over again. She wanted me to call her mum and see if she could post bail. (NO, I will not go into detail about the alleged crime here...that's far too private) I tried repeatedly to ring her mum, but never got an answer. My friend kept calling and I could tell she was upset and worried (as one should be in jail). Finally, around 1:00am or so, my friend calls to see that she's out of jail and explained the situation to me. It was obvious that she was crying as she told me that she loves me and thanked me for all the help. I feel good knowing that I'm someone a friend can turn to when they need help.

Monday morning. 5 hours sleep is just not enough...so I beat the snooze button mercilessly for an hour. So much for my morning walk. Work was uneventful, thankfully, as after last night's mayhem, I wasn't in the mood to be there. After a blissfully short day, I'm driving home and I see this church sign which reads: "Even in the bleakest time, Christians have the brightest hope". Sounds very positive, right? Well I took it differently. I still, at age 43, don't understand the whole "our church/faith" is better than yours mentality. Just seems decidedly un-Christian.

OK...almost 2 miles from home, I pass a cemetery. I pass this daily. Hell, half of my family is buried there. But what got me this time is this: when the hell did BALLOONS become standard grave decorations????? I noticed a number of graves visible from the road adorned with festive, brightly colored mylar balloons! THAT'S JUST TACKY!!!!!!!! Do the people that do this think that their dearly departed is going to be pleased with this? Maturity seems to have become a thing of the past. But I've been saying that for years....

Made it home (no balloons there! LOL) and played The Dobrophone for a good 2 hours. Ahhhhhhh....life is good.

What? You expected there to a be a point to all of this? LOL