Music and Meme

I have a bazillion random things in my head that I was going to write about, but I'll just calm them down with this little meme from John, although I won't do it quite as well as he did. Name "three concerts I’d dearly like to have attended."

Tops on my list is a very easy question. I wanted to see the Beatles at Shea Stadium. I mean, I really really really wanted to see the Beatles at Shea Stadium. I was 12 years old, so going there on my own was out of the question, although my friend Jessica's parents would have had no problem with her making the bus and subway trip to Queens on her own. (She had been traveling like that to piano lessons in Queens since she was five, with her eight year old sister. Yes, from New Jersey.) Jessica and I called the stadium on the day of the concert and found out that there were still tickets and they were very affordable. My sister was 17, and had a boyfriend with a car. They had to take us.

As you might gather, they didn't. I begged and pleaded. We were going to pay for their tickets, of course, and all the gas and tolls. My sister finally said that if I could make myself cry real tears, they would do it. I did. They didn't. I still remind her of this occasionally, especially when I'm trying to get her to do something for me.

#2: Like John, I always wanted to see Simon and Garfunkel. I saw Paul Simon in D.C. in 1973 or 74, when There Goes Rhymin' Simon was just coming out. It was the first stop on his tour, so we heard all these songs before anyone. It was fabulous. Years later, he was doing a three night gig in New York; this must have been 1978 or so, and there were rumors that Artie would come out and play with him one of the nights. The Hubs and I went with the Sibs and her first husband; I believe we went to the first and third nights. Artie showed up on night two. Bummer. But Paul Simon gave a helluva concert.

#3: Bob Dylan. Except this one sort of doesn't count. I don't remember when it was, after R was born at least, and the Hubs and I went to a Dylan concert in west Jersey. It was at some kind of very muddy campground, and everywhere we looked there were Hell's Angels. We had second row seats, so we were expecting a great show, at least. Unfortunately, there was a Hell's Angels sized amp on the stage, right between Bob and us, and the acoustics in the tent were terrible. (And you really need good acoustics for Bob Dylan, because, let's face it, age has no been kind to his voice.) We were there, we heard some stuff, we never saw him. And like the Beatles, although for different reasons, it's a little too late now.

And not quite a concert at the time, but one night when I was in college, two friends and I drove around for hours and hours, looking for a little club called, really, The Joint in the Woods, because one of the friends wanted to see this guy who was playing there who used to play at his high school dances down at the shore, and he was going to be big someday! We never found the Joint, but eventually, we got to hear Bruce Springsteen play anyway.

Although I was never a huge concert goer, I was lucky enough in my day to see Harry Chapin (a helluva performer), Bruce Springsteen (when he was just hitting the big time), Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes (at their first show in Asbury Park in years, a knockout show, and none of you ever heard of him), and finally, last year, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. I had seen all four of them before, but never together; it was like heaven in a time machine, man. And I've seen the Moody Blues too many times to count.

Perhaps I'll rant tomorrow.


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