Topic: Check one off The List
40 years ago my college buddy and I made lists of things we'd like to do before we die. I guess they would be known as "bucket lists" today. There were several items that I knew would be nearly impossible (paddle the entire Nile river, climb Mt. Everest, etc) but also more reasonable things that I have already accomplished. Some of the items involved musical acts. I wanted to stand in Times Square in NYC on New years eve and hear Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians play Auld Lang Syne, but the old bastard died before I could do it. I stood in Times Square but he wasn't playing so it wasn't the same, so years later I added another one: hear George Jones sing live the anthem of country music "He Stopped Loving Her Today". When I found out George was going to be at the Nelsonville Music Festival http://www.nelsonvillefest.org/2011-artists.html , I order tickets the first week they came out.
There are three venues at the festival - a Main Stage with a couple million watts of amplification so thousands can hear, a "Back Porch Stage" which allows acts to play to a couple hundred folks in lawn chairs and the "No-Fi"Cabin which is an old log school house which seats about 30 for acoustic acts (my favorite). I arrived at the festival Friday evening and listened to one of my favorite "strange" groups - Drakkar Sauna" on the Porch Stage before going to the main stage to hear Justin Townes Earle and then the "Possum" himself. George had a pretty weak and raspy voice and I was beginning to think he wouldn't make it to the end of his performance, but he hung on and finally on his last song I could scratch another item off the list.
My plan was to spend the night at the festival,listen to a couple acoustic singer/songwriters I wanted to hear on Saturday and then pass off my tickets to my son and his wife who were going to show up around 2 pm. He and his wife had also had a history of missing some groups they wanted to hear. He wanted to go hear the Flaming Lips when he was in college but his car broke down the day before he was to buy tickets so he had to spend the ticket money on repairs. A year later he and his girlfriend (now his wife) had bought tickets to see Yo La Tengo but his college room mate's mother came to visit their dorm room and decided to clean their room while they were in class and accidently threw out the tickets. They couldn't believe that Yo La Tengo and The Flaming Lips were playing back-to-back on the Main Stage Saturday night so they jumped at the chance when I offered them the tickets. Right after George played I got a phone call - my son was in the hospital and wouldn't be able to come Saturday. He had went to the doctor earlier in the week because of chest pain and a nagging cough that he'd had for a few months. At first the doc thought he just had an allergy, but after looking again at the xrays, he called and told him to go to the ER and have an EKG. They found a large amount of fluid in the sac around his heart and removed over a quart of bloody fluid on Saturday. They still haven't figured out what caused it and he will remain in the hospital until at least Tuesday while they run more tests. For those of you who are believers, I'd appreciate a little prayer for him. I'm pretty sure he'll be all right but once a parent, always a parent, even if he is 31 years old.
I forgot to mention that I stayed at the festival Friday night as I had already had consumed too many adult beverages to make the two hour drive back home. I stayed long enough Saturday morning to hear Matt Moore, an up-and-coming young singer-songwriter from the Appalachian area of southeast Ohio, and Todd Burge the Dean of WV songwriters". After listening to them I'm now inspired to write some more new songs. Jen and I went to visit Wes today. He's feeling better than he has in several months and was pretty upbeat. We did spend a little time talking about the connection between him wanting to see music groups and the associated misfortunes that seem to befall him.............
DE
