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Showing posts with label Gertrude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gertrude. Show all posts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Friday, November 7, 2008
For Gertrude
Here's a picture of a picture in the main lodge of Sir Paul. It's not very good, mostly because it was dark and I couldn't take a head on shot without glare from the flash.
I thought you might enjoy these.
xo
Saturday, July 26, 2008
...Because I'm An Idiot Manchild
I somehow forgot a few other concerts that Gertrude and I have seen. Again, probably because I'm a dumb boy.
Harry Connick, Jr., in Dallas on the She tour, I was hoping for tuxedo and big band, he was in his black jeans and fusion funk band stage.
Tori Amos, I'm pretty sure this was the Cornflake Girl tour. The program had a foreward by Neil Gaiman which started with "Hi, by the way" Tear in Your Hand is Gertrude's ringtone on my phone to this day.
Bobby McFerrin (on the Hush tour, sadly, Yo-Yo Ma did not visit OKC with him)
I think that may be it, bringing our 17 year-ish associated total to 6 if you believe my recollections. Hell, there are probably a couple others waiting to tap me on the shoulder as soon as I hit "Publish Post"
In any case, not nearly enough.
Harry Connick, Jr., in Dallas on the She tour, I was hoping for tuxedo and big band, he was in his black jeans and fusion funk band stage.
Tori Amos, I'm pretty sure this was the Cornflake Girl tour. The program had a foreward by Neil Gaiman which started with "Hi, by the way" Tear in Your Hand is Gertrude's ringtone on my phone to this day.
Bobby McFerrin (on the Hush tour, sadly, Yo-Yo Ma did not visit OKC with him)
I think that may be it, bringing our 17 year-ish associated total to 6 if you believe my recollections. Hell, there are probably a couple others waiting to tap me on the shoulder as soon as I hit "Publish Post"
In any case, not nearly enough.
One More Thought...
Gertrude and I have only gone to 3(!) concerts together over the years, but Boy, have they been doozies:
Frank
Lyle
and now John Cougar
We need to do this more.
Frank
Lyle
and now John Cougar
We need to do this more.
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Cougar Has Landed!
What a great show! Absolutely fantastic, kids! Johnny came knockin' with his fiddler AND the acordian player. So immediately Gertrude and I were all "Oh, it's on! The only entourage regret I have (and he should be feelin' this) is that his sassy POP SING-AAAAH backup gals weren't there.
He started off with Pink Houses which got everyone to their feet. Cheater.
It was more of an "Everyone get up and enjoy this show" than a shove my new album down your throat show. He played 4 songs from the new album by my count, including the powerful "Jena".
Our boy ripped the roof off the dump several times, but when he kicked the everlovin' shit out of "Crumblin' Down" , I swear, if you were dead a week, you still would have had to get up and sing along.
My favorite was "Rain on the Scarecrow" which he and the band blasted out (4 guitars plus bass) completely electric. Goosebumps and welled up eyes on that one, folks. Always one of my favorites and, for me, his most personal and painful narrative. (I'll save the story of my great-grandfather, the peanut farmer from Eastern Oklahoma, for later)
Gert and I were both extremely disappointed that "Rumbleseat" and "Ain't Even Done With the Night" were left off the set list. There were plenty others I would have loved to have heard ("When Jesus Left Birmingham", "Pop Singer" , "What if I Came Knockin'" but, in all honesty, if he played MY setlist, he wouldn't be finished until Sunday afternoon.
Gertrude was screaming for "Cherry Bomb" when we were riding the escalator up to our seats, and, Bless Her Heart, he didn't deliver that one, either.
Overall, just fantastic! Love that I got to watch him with Gert, he's always been 'one of our guys'; Love that Gertrude scored us the tickets months ago, way before time together was as scarce as it's become. Just a wonderful night.
Thank You, Gertrude.
Here are a couple that I found that I couldn't resist linking: Johnny with The Man in Black hisself, and one with Paul Simon (I actually remember seeing this on NBC waaay back when, Dan Ayckroyd and John Candy hosted some otherwise silly thing-this obviously was great, LOVE their version of The Boxer)
I'm exhausted. From the show and from linking all those damn videos. Main reason I didn't mention any more song titles...I'm spent.
He started off with Pink Houses which got everyone to their feet. Cheater.
It was more of an "Everyone get up and enjoy this show" than a shove my new album down your throat show. He played 4 songs from the new album by my count, including the powerful "Jena".
Our boy ripped the roof off the dump several times, but when he kicked the everlovin' shit out of "Crumblin' Down" , I swear, if you were dead a week, you still would have had to get up and sing along.
My favorite was "Rain on the Scarecrow" which he and the band blasted out (4 guitars plus bass) completely electric. Goosebumps and welled up eyes on that one, folks. Always one of my favorites and, for me, his most personal and painful narrative. (I'll save the story of my great-grandfather, the peanut farmer from Eastern Oklahoma, for later)
Gert and I were both extremely disappointed that "Rumbleseat" and "Ain't Even Done With the Night" were left off the set list. There were plenty others I would have loved to have heard ("When Jesus Left Birmingham", "Pop Singer" , "What if I Came Knockin'" but, in all honesty, if he played MY setlist, he wouldn't be finished until Sunday afternoon.
Gertrude was screaming for "Cherry Bomb" when we were riding the escalator up to our seats, and, Bless Her Heart, he didn't deliver that one, either.
Overall, just fantastic! Love that I got to watch him with Gert, he's always been 'one of our guys'; Love that Gertrude scored us the tickets months ago, way before time together was as scarce as it's become. Just a wonderful night.
Thank You, Gertrude.
Here are a couple that I found that I couldn't resist linking: Johnny with The Man in Black hisself, and one with Paul Simon (I actually remember seeing this on NBC waaay back when, Dan Ayckroyd and John Candy hosted some otherwise silly thing-this obviously was great, LOVE their version of The Boxer)
I'm exhausted. From the show and from linking all those damn videos. Main reason I didn't mention any more song titles...I'm spent.
Cougar Alert!
Gert and I are goin' down to the Ford Center (insert product placement/sponsorship here) to see Johnny Cougar anoche, kiddos! Can't wait! File this under 20 years too late, but not a minute too soon. Face time without being on the clock from the Rumble Seat.
I'm not as present here as I'd like to be, and I know I've mentioned several times " how much more I want to post" and I Will . I've got quite a few saved, just not published, that I've been trying to edit to death for months. But this is one that doesn't take my ridiculous scrutiny to put out there. I've been looking forward to this since before face time with Gert became such a premium, now it's even more prescient.
I'm trying not to be too hopeful about the set list. I know he's got the new album out, and it's good, I really like it. So, I'm sure he'll split it up, either new one, old one, or new in the first half, old in the second, but there's so many to choose from that I'm telling myself, whichever ones he chooses will be fine by me.
Then, tomorrow night, there's Saturday Night in the Little Big Town with Zelda and hopefully Gertrude, too. I can feel my arteries clogging already from the Eischens Fried Chicken already. Gotta get me some of the bread and butter pickles, while I'm there.
I found an account of a transplanted first-timer's account of Eischens here. For the uninitiated, this is a pretty good example of what it's like. Except for the Uglyhoma crack.
Enjoy the weekend.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Notes on a Move
I am the tired version of Cooter Brown.
My apartment looks like a Garage Sale Bomb went off. Lots of crapnel all over the place. Couldn't be more tired if I was being interrogated at Gitmo at this point.
I was in a bad mood 'cause my back is sore as Marlon Brando's pack mule.
I have a rash or some something that includes breaking out all over my chest, stomach and shaved head that can only have come from napping on my new/old World's Ugliest Free Couch. I'm colorblind and I still find it without any aesthetic value. Evidently it does have some value where the CDC is concerned, though, judging by the map of the Old World that now covers me from noggin to navel.
The transition is a bit different than I expected, although I'm not quite sure what I expected. I don't know where anything goes. Or where it's supposed to go. Or where it should go. If I don't figure it out soon, it'll all just have to go.
It is bittersweet, though. I miss Gert and Noodle and the Lads.
As the title of this ‘blog’ states; Some Things I Know and Some Things I Don’t…
I liberally employ the ellipse as a tool to best illustrate the pauses that occur so often in my daily speech— Sometimes it’s the result of the habit I picked up from letting David Letterman educate my sensibilities past the Late Local News; other times it’s for the presumptive effect that may allow you to think while you’re looking at (and possibly thinking in your not-outside voice) dot-dot-dot…(see there it was again).
Since The Big Move which occurred around the Ides of May, I have found out several Things I Know and Several (more) Things I Don’t…here are the majority of those Things…
I Miss Living With Gertrude. And Noodle. And The Lads. And Manolo (the fish) Desperately.
Sure, if any one of us looks around and makes an honest effort of estimating or itemizing what they may (or may not) like to change about their current situation (whether with or without a co-habitant, roommate, spouse, etc.) we might, at any given time, on any given day, be able to generate a cathartic list that may (or may not) express ALL the things that we could change if said current situation were to , in fact, be altered by the eventual or immediate absence of whomever may be filling the Void as a co-habitant, roommate, spouse, etc.(…) You, the reader, may have done this dozens of times in the past (or maybe even today); I’ll readily (albeit, somewhat sheepishly) admit, that I had made such (a) list(s) before the Ides of May. Even after the News of the Great MortgageVictory, reached my shores, I made a newer, updated, version of such List; and just like the past (make believe) lists, I sat and daydreamed how different things would be…in about 6 weeks. Mind you, I deliberately said/typed different, not better. At first, there are the obvious projected differences…being able to walk around in (or out of) your drawers (if you so choose) [that’s underwear for anyone wondering or needing a reminder this originates from the 47th State], trying a new dishwasher detergent, just to see if the commercial is right, and getting to see what the Sound of Silence holds…
Well, I’m here to tell you, kids, it’s deafening!
There are far too many things to list in context of this (or of us), but, it’s hard to explain the missing of a heartbeat, the white noise, the positive/negative space, the order, the chaos, the routine, the comfort of living with the Best Friend You’ll Ever Be Lucky Enough to Have, without spiraling into a ‘Poor Me’ sounding lament, or an 80’s Power Ballad.
That fear now aside (and with all apologies to Cinderella), I’m in the stages of you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
Please understand that there’s not one single part of me that begrudges the opportunity that Gertrude has and was able to embrace, or the result of the difficult decision making process that she endured. I couldn’t have imagined a scenario working out more in her favor, all things considered (save an incredibly large sack of unmarked bills falling on our former front porch), than she now has before her.
I just didn’t plan very well for this day; emotionally, I mean.
I can feel myself welling up to a point that I will not be able to make sense soon (let alone fulfill the intro to the post promising a list of several items relevant to the theme), so, I will try to sum up my lack of synchronicity with the new Patio-less 63rd Street Living Cubicle Life like this…Life, in all it’s Glory and with all it’s Challenges, is all in the details.
My life is no more richer for being able to buy any one specific brand of toilet paper or margarine, or the so-called ‘freedom’ to walk around in various states of undress, or any other newfound changes I’ve experienced in this transition; in fact, in a black and white, red or blue world, between the choice of happy or unhappy, for the moment, I have to punch the chad corresponding with unhappy (whether or not that means anything or not to Pat Buchanan).
Regardless of the Immediate Necessity or Eventual Benefit of the Changes Occurring Around the Ides of May, left to my own devices, given my druthers, I’d be back on the Patio with Gertrude in a second.
My apartment looks like a Garage Sale Bomb went off. Lots of crapnel all over the place. Couldn't be more tired if I was being interrogated at Gitmo at this point.
I was in a bad mood 'cause my back is sore as Marlon Brando's pack mule.
I have a rash or some something that includes breaking out all over my chest, stomach and shaved head that can only have come from napping on my new/old World's Ugliest Free Couch. I'm colorblind and I still find it without any aesthetic value. Evidently it does have some value where the CDC is concerned, though, judging by the map of the Old World that now covers me from noggin to navel.
The transition is a bit different than I expected, although I'm not quite sure what I expected. I don't know where anything goes. Or where it's supposed to go. Or where it should go. If I don't figure it out soon, it'll all just have to go.
It is bittersweet, though. I miss Gert and Noodle and the Lads.
As the title of this ‘blog’ states; Some Things I Know and Some Things I Don’t…
I liberally employ the ellipse as a tool to best illustrate the pauses that occur so often in my daily speech— Sometimes it’s the result of the habit I picked up from letting David Letterman educate my sensibilities past the Late Local News; other times it’s for the presumptive effect that may allow you to think while you’re looking at (and possibly thinking in your not-outside voice) dot-dot-dot…(see there it was again).
Since The Big Move which occurred around the Ides of May, I have found out several Things I Know and Several (more) Things I Don’t…here are the majority of those Things…
I Miss Living With Gertrude. And Noodle. And The Lads. And Manolo (the fish) Desperately.
Sure, if any one of us looks around and makes an honest effort of estimating or itemizing what they may (or may not) like to change about their current situation (whether with or without a co-habitant, roommate, spouse, etc.) we might, at any given time, on any given day, be able to generate a cathartic list that may (or may not) express ALL the things that we could change if said current situation were to , in fact, be altered by the eventual or immediate absence of whomever may be filling the Void as a co-habitant, roommate, spouse, etc.(…) You, the reader, may have done this dozens of times in the past (or maybe even today); I’ll readily (albeit, somewhat sheepishly) admit, that I had made such (a) list(s) before the Ides of May. Even after the News of the Great MortgageVictory, reached my shores, I made a newer, updated, version of such List; and just like the past (make believe) lists, I sat and daydreamed how different things would be…in about 6 weeks. Mind you, I deliberately said/typed different, not better. At first, there are the obvious projected differences…being able to walk around in (or out of) your drawers (if you so choose) [that’s underwear for anyone wondering or needing a reminder this originates from the 47th State], trying a new dishwasher detergent, just to see if the commercial is right, and getting to see what the Sound of Silence holds…
Well, I’m here to tell you, kids, it’s deafening!
There are far too many things to list in context of this (or of us), but, it’s hard to explain the missing of a heartbeat, the white noise, the positive/negative space, the order, the chaos, the routine, the comfort of living with the Best Friend You’ll Ever Be Lucky Enough to Have, without spiraling into a ‘Poor Me’ sounding lament, or an 80’s Power Ballad.
That fear now aside (and with all apologies to Cinderella), I’m in the stages of you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
Please understand that there’s not one single part of me that begrudges the opportunity that Gertrude has and was able to embrace, or the result of the difficult decision making process that she endured. I couldn’t have imagined a scenario working out more in her favor, all things considered (save an incredibly large sack of unmarked bills falling on our former front porch), than she now has before her.
I just didn’t plan very well for this day; emotionally, I mean.
I can feel myself welling up to a point that I will not be able to make sense soon (let alone fulfill the intro to the post promising a list of several items relevant to the theme), so, I will try to sum up my lack of synchronicity with the new Patio-less 63rd Street Living Cubicle Life like this…Life, in all it’s Glory and with all it’s Challenges, is all in the details.
My life is no more richer for being able to buy any one specific brand of toilet paper or margarine, or the so-called ‘freedom’ to walk around in various states of undress, or any other newfound changes I’ve experienced in this transition; in fact, in a black and white, red or blue world, between the choice of happy or unhappy, for the moment, I have to punch the chad corresponding with unhappy (whether or not that means anything or not to Pat Buchanan).
Regardless of the Immediate Necessity or Eventual Benefit of the Changes Occurring Around the Ides of May, left to my own devices, given my druthers, I’d be back on the Patio with Gertrude in a second.
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