Just wanted to share the delights of outdoor shows with you guys....

I wasn't in Ripley yesterday but my cub reporter, Rene, kept me posted.
No kidding. Every 15 minutes or so she'd call and give me the weather
update. I felt her pain, tho. Arvada (Colorado) the week before was breezy,
cool and rainy. :(

I'll spare you my usual diatribe against outdoor concerts and let you in on
some of the highlights. Sherm (the husband) made his second-ever road
trip over to Denver. We left at 6:00 am and pulled into Arvada just in time
for sound check. In the parking lot was our bud, Doc. He was Bonnie-less.
We had a nice hour or so to catch up and talk health care reform under
President O'Bama :) Of course, I forgot my Janumet (a diabetes
prescription) so Doc hooked me up with some samples. And Sherm has a case of
the
vertigo, so he got to bend Doc's ear for a few minutes about that. I expect a
bill in the mail any day. Yes, folks. He REALLY is a doctor.

The sky was all dark and threatening but as it turns out, it was saving
itself for the show. Sherm and I left the venue and headed to a nice steak
place where we met up with another good Colorado bud, Holly. As it so
happened, this show fell on my 39th birthday! I did some mental calculations
and could come up with at least 8 birthdays I've had on the road at Kathy
shows over the past 10 or so years.

After dinner we hightailed it over to the amphitheatre. The reserved
seats are covered (sorta) but the grass people were left to their own devices.
They snuggled under tarps--whole families. I felt bad for them.
Apparently so did KM. She invited them to sit in seats after intermission. I
was
surprised by the turnout, given the weather.

I couldn't take notes because my phone ran out of battery. I'm now to the
point that my battery won't hold a charge very well. It's not the
I-Phone's fault. It's mine. I'm hooked on the apps. And I'm eyeing that new
I-Phone and it's video capabilities.

Well, the show proceeded along quite nicely until Kathy got to the 18
Wheels sing-along part. She got everyone thru the first sing along and then
stopped. She told the crowd that some folks in the fan club had a birthday
cake made for her with her photo on it .... and put my name on it too, for
good measure. She and band proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to me and added
the reggae and bluegrass versions. The only thing that made me relieved
was that she didn't know where I was sitting. But then, she informed the
crowd that the sheet cake (what was left of it after the band had theirs)
would be up at the merch table for them to enjoy, too.

Great.

Well at intermission, everyone took her at her word and lined up for free
cake. Of course, the cake cutting lady had to downsize the portions after
she got a look at the line. We determined that it would be wise to offer
free cake every night because the sales were much better than usual. :) So
now I'm probably going to be celebrating my birthday 30-40 times a year.

The rain let up during the 2nd half of the show. Ever the trooper, Kathy
gave them all a full-length, energetic performance in spite of the thunder
and lightning. The meet 'n greet was longer than usual, too. Those
Coloradoans are hardy souls, used to adversity, I'm guessing.

Fast forward one week. I'd decided to skip Ripley because I'd just gotten
home from Nashville and I was planning to being gone again for the CT and
PA shows. Rene, however, was driving distance from WV and had planned to
hit that show and then go on over to her mother's in Columbus. She got into
town a few hours early and discovered how small Ripley really is. Plus
all the activities they might have had planned were being rained on. So she
passed the time by calling me every 15 minutes. It was fine, though,
because I enjoyed hearing what was going on.

She sent me a really lovely photo of herself in her rain poncho that will
make it to the fan club website, I promise. Now I really can't report on a
show that I didn't go to, but all reports were eerily like Arvada.

While I hate missing a show, I must admit I've spent a wonderful long
weekend in front of the TV, witnessing two extraordinary events: Wimbledon AND
the Nathan Hot Dog eating championship. I don't know which I enjoyed the
most. My boy Andy lost but the eating competition was brought home (again)
to the USA for the third straight year. Watching this normal-sized guy
standing at attention, draped in a US flag as the Star Spangled Banner played
with goop on his mouth and shirt was a bit of a turn off. But, there's
just something about flag-draped athletes that make me so proud. 68 dogs in
10 minutes. I'm thinking of entering the Hostess Snow Ball competition
later this year. But only if they use the white ones. I'm afraid the
additives that make them pink or orange or green might be harmful :)

Hope you all had an enjoyable (and dry) Fourth of July. I'm off the road
next weekend too as The Princess is turning 3 (YIKES!) next Saturday.
Happy to report that the Potty Training Mission has been successfully
completed.

All for now

Sue




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