Sad news, my friends. In case you hadn’t heard, Nate Dogg died yesterday. ::tear:: Let us pause to pour a little out from our 40s in his memory…
No more will we get to hear those silky smooth vocals on such lyrics as “ooo I like your size.” Ah, that clear black night and clear white moon will always hold a spot in my hip-hop heart.
Regulators!! Mount up!
R and I went to the Willie Nelson and Family show last night at one of the small local theaters downtown and it was amazing! Fantastic, stupendous, ridiculously fun and awesome, I just can’t come up with enough adjectives to describe it. Amaze-balls!
Willie has long been one of my favorite musicians. And I mean long as in I’ve listened to him since I was a baby. Literally. His Stardust album is a staple in our cocktail hour music selection when we go on our family vacation, so each time I hear it I’m instantly transported to one of my favorite places on earth. Plus he’s just a legend. What more reason would I need to go see him? We saw him when he opened for Bob Dylan last year at Summerfest, but that show didn’t compare to this one in the slightest. That one we were up in the back seats of the amphitheater so he was just a tiny blip on the stage wearing a cowboy hat; this one we were in the 8th row, center section, so we could see each hair of his braids and the worn-out hole in Trigger no problem. That one we had to rely on the crappy amphitheater sound system to try to catch some lyrics we knew; this one was crystal clear and provided every opportunity to sing along to some of my favorite songs. That one he only played a brief sample of his hits; this one he played a solid hour and a half, non-stop, rockin’ compilation of new and old.
We missed him the last time he played a smaller, more intimate venue here, so when we saw he was playing one of the theaters again we jumped at the chance and I bought tickets the minute they went on sale. I ended up getting the best seats of any concert we’ve been to, and they couldn’t have been for a better show. He opened with “Whiskey River” (are you kidding?? one of my faves!!), threw in some “Beer for my Horses” and “Gotta Get Drunk”, slowed things down with one of my all-time favorites “Georgia”, did an off-the-charts awesome rendition of “Bobby McGee” (it was hilarious – at one point he kind of paused and said, “Ha, I forgot the words”. and Willie Nelson can totally get away with that!), went a little “Crazy”….. It was unbelievable! I can’t even list the whole fabulous set.
Are you ready for the best part? I GOT TO SHAKE HIS HAND!!!! Me, SM, got to shake the legendary guitar-strumming hand of the one and only Willie Nelson! At the end of the show he came up to the front of the stage to greet fans, and I couldn’t resist. I got right up there, stuck my hand out, and he grabbed it, pointed at me, and winked! ::swoon:: And just prior to that, he’d blown me a kiss at the end of one of the last songs, which I gladly returned. Ohmygosh Willie Nelson blew me a kiss!! And no, I’m not just speculating that said air kiss was blown in my general direction, it was right to me. The guy next to us and one further down our row both even came up to me and said, “He blew you a kiss!” Proof positive. The only thing that could’ve made the night better was if I’d caught one of the 3 red bandanas he tossed into the crowd, but none of them made it back to our row.
Those of you non-Willie fans are probably like woo great, SM, big deal. But I’m still riding that high, and will be for a long time. Oh, no, not that same kind of high that Willie enjoys – gheesh, it was a work night show, and I’ve got a 7 month old who’s still nursing. 😉
I love you, Willie!!
p.s. I have to give credit for “amaze-balls” to my sister M. Thanks, I stole it. 🙂
