Month: April 2016

 

I cannot get over the fact that Prince is dead. It really does not seem possible.  The last time we saw Prince was in 2015 on his Hit n Run tour. That is the sign behind us.  He put the tickets on sale two days before he showed up (get it–hit n run) so we had to scramble like mad to get seats.  Cameras of all kinds were strictly forbidden and would be confiscated so this was all we have as a record of the event.   It was at the Warner theater and we had pretty close seats.  He was great of course.

We have seen him many times.  We’ve been up close and personal in the third row, we’ve been in nose bleeds, we’ve seen him in small theaters and arenas.  No matter where the performance, he always gave us nearly three hours of spectacular fun.  Then we would wake up the next morning disappointed to learn that after the show he went to a small club and played for hours more. If we were 20 we would have known that.  But hey, we have jobs.

He really was probably the best guitar player I have ever seen. (And yes, I have seen Clapton and Santana and Jerry Garcia and David Gilmore  every other guitar player you can think of including Muddy Waters.) He had a way of playing with exuberance and because he mixed up funk and soul and rock, you never quire knew what was going to come out next.  When he jammed, he played his music, then covers and odd music references and then back into his own music.  It was a musical tour in one song.

I remember Prince from college, when 1999  and Little Red Corvette were the hits.  But I did not follow him as intensely as Matt who has loved him forever I think.  Matt has, I am going to guess, over a thousand Prince songs in his collection, probably more.  So we have been listening to him non-stop.  Years ago we took a vacation in Minneapolis and we made the pilgrimage to his club, Glam Slam.  It was the first time we had ever seen those photos booth where you stand in front of a backdrop and take a picture of your cool time.  So we took a picture.  It was kind of goofy.  I am not sure where that picture is now.  Time to go and tear the house apart to find it.

Man, there is going to be one heck of a memorial concert and we are going to attend even if we have to move heaven and earth to get there.  Minneapolis here we come.

Apparently I agreed to go to a Duran Duran concert with Matt.  He tells me I agreed because Chic would be opening and I wanted to see them.  I have no recollection of this conversation but there I was at this concert.

A Duran Duran concert crowd is made up mostly of Gen Xers, which I am perplexed to report  are now middle-aged and sharing in the nostalgia tour phenomenon with the rest of us geezers.  I remember Duran Duran from the beginning of MTV but after the first two songs I lost interest in them and, frankly, in MTV.  This meant that I was not familiar with any of the music.  Watching people go crazy for songs that you don’t know is kind of weird.

But I did know Chic because they were part of my college youth.  When “The Freak” came out, we danced in freak lines, boy-girl-boy-girl rubbing up against each other.  The young boys loved it, of course, and we thought it was great fun to tease them with a lewd dance.  Television crews taped the lines of dancing, drinking teens and the reporters opined about how it was the end of Western civilization as we know it.  If only they could see the future and the even worse lewd dancing that goes on today.  Maybe there has always been lewd dancing and the times when it did not exist, I am talking to you Victorian Era, was an anomaly.

But I digress.  So there is Niles Rodgers, the only living member of Chic, going through his hits.  We Are Family, Good Times, Freak Out, Let’s Dance, honestly, the list goes on and on.   He has written dozens of hits.   The man has got to have a very large fortune.  Just the Pittsburgh Pirates playing “We Are Family” must keep him in a pretty mansion.  So that was all very enjoyable.

Then Duran Duran came on.  I knew three songs and that was it.  Not a memory came to mind but Matt loved it so I guess that is something.  Sometimes spouses have to do things like that, indulge a loved one.

You know I am following the Penguins, soon to be winners of the 2016 Stanley Cup.  We were not able to get to Pittsburgh for a game this year so we decided to see them play the Capitals here on April 7th.  We found some pretty reasonably priced tickets in the third row right behind the Penguins bench and right next to the players tunnel.  It is not the best spot to see a game, a lot of the rink was obscured, but it sure was fun and interesting to watch the players come and go and talk and laugh and have a good time.   When you are that close the players are giants on skates and the speed is almost exhausting.

I love the new coach, Mike Sullivan, God bless that man for turning this team around.  I made a sign that said “Sullivan is my coach of the year.  Go Pens!”  I put the sign up against the glass and waited for him to get to the bench.  He walked toward me and I’m smiling and waving.  He sees the sign and kind of smiles and then gets real serious.  Yay!!!  I was so pumped.  I got a hint of a smile out of him.  He deserves to be named coach of he year.  The man is a freaking genius.

Then the Pens beat the Caps yet again.  Oh, the joy!  I never have so much fun as watching the Penguins beat the Caps.  There are always lots of Pens fans at these games and when the game was over people were running up and down the street yelling “Go Pens!”  Good times.