On July 5, 2019, Mother Nature provides a lightning light show as Dead & Company play “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” at Folsom Field football stadium on the University of Colorado campus, Boulder.
My husband and I joined many family members to enjoy two nights of the Dead & Company at Folsom Field football stadium at the University of Colorado, Boulder, on July 5 and 6, 2019. This was my first “Dead” show since 1993 when my husband and I saw the Grateful Dead at R.F.K. Stadium in Washington. D.C. I’d seen them three other times in the Kansas City area. My husband, a very ardent Dead Head, has seen them many more times and listened to countless of their recorded concerts.
Storm clouds threatened, and during the second song, the very appropriately timed “Cold Rain and Snow,” it started to rain and lightning flashed. The more than 50,000 of us were evacuated to under the stadium concourse, where we were crammed together like sardines. But it was very orderly and even a little fun, other than my being soaked. An optimist, I’d left my poncho in the van. When the evacuation began, we were near the field, so it took us a long time to climb the bleachers. Hail began to pelt us. We were separated from our group of eight others, not sure what to do. Fortunately, the rain did stop, and the show resumed, John Mayer launched right back into “Cold Rain and Snow.”
The second night, we did bring in our ponchos, and not a drop fell. For which we were grateful.
We enjoyed the beautiful mountains, including where were staying — a house in the mountains, where during the day we watched mule tail deer and a hummingbird that lived in the yard. The last night, returning from the show, a black bear ran across the road a mile from our house.
Dead & Company and Grateful Dead shows are well-documented. I’ve linked some sources below.
Concert goers begin to fill Folsom Field football stadium for the Dead & Company show on July 5, 2019. Storm clouds roll in over the front range of the Rocky Mountains, which provide a magnificent backdrop.
On July 6, 2019, the crowd enjoys the second night of the Dead & Company’s two nights in Boulder, Colorado.
The sunrise view from our mountain deck. From this same deck, we watched lightning flashing over Denver, Colorado, on the Fourth of July — Mother Nature’s fireworks.
I recorded part of Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded” song (in video above.) I thought the fire and lighting effects were fun (I don’t get out much. Maybe this is standard at concerts now.) Although I hadn’t specifically followed Foreigner’s music and don’t own any Foreigner albums, I recognized every song from the radio. Very singable music! They just don’t write songs the way they used to, this old timer says.
I’ve been a big Led Zeppelin fan for decades. On July 17, 2018 (I’m a little late posting this…), my husband and I went to see “Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience” at Starlight Theater, an outdoor venue, in Kansas City, Missouri. The Experience plays Led Zeppelin music exactly as I remember it. It gave me goosebumps, and not just because of the rain. I always see Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin’s lead singer, when he performs town. Next time is in September 2018! My husband and I already have tickets.
I got soaked at the Starlight Theater concert, but it was worth it. After The Led Zeppelin Experience, we enjoyed “Whitesnake” (a guilty pleasure) and then the main act was “Foreigner,” a band I’ve always enjoyed on the radio. It performs in Kansas City every year, I think, but this was my first time to see Foreigner in concert. This band has devoted fans!
For the past nine years, Foreigner has welcomed a local choir to join the band in performing a song at every show on its tour. With each road stop, the performing school gets $500 towards its music program. St. Thomas Aquinas Choir to Perform With the Band Foreigner.
The “Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience” performs in the top photo. Speaking in the center is drummer Jason Bonham, the son of John Bonham, who was the drummer for Led Zeppelin. In the lower photograph is David Coverdale, lead singer of Whitesnake.
Part of Whitesnake’s iconic song “Here I Go Again.” Sorry I didn’t get the entire song. Hey, it was still raining a little.
Now that all of the holiday events are behind us, including that long stretch of food-eating extravaganzas from Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas parties through New Year’s Day buffets, we can now reflect on 2013 and resolve for 2014. Here’s a funny video about guests and their many eating quirks. Lucky me, I can eat almost anything!
I’m tacking on this 2013 annual report from WordPress. The kindly people at WordPress noted that many of my top posts were not written this past year. Rather than saying that I was lazy in 2013, they said this: “Some of your most popular posts were written before 2013. Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again.” Hope to see you all in 2014.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 36,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 13 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
When Sam Bush and his band started to play this bluegrass-reggae fusion of “One Love” by Bob Marley (or “Billy Bob” Marley as Sam Bush called him) I fumbled with my new camera to start recording. I missed the first minute or two, but still captured almost ten minutes. My son-in-law has played bass in reggae bands so I wanted him to hear this. He and my daughter have seen Sam Bush with us in this concert series in the past. As an unexpected bonus, the bass guitarist played a solo.
Sam Bush 2011, Olathe Free Summer Concert series.
This is the fifth year we’ve seen Sam Bush play in the Olathe Free Concert Series, which is in its 14th year. Sam Bush performed this year on June 7th. (2013) I noticed as I looked at my photos from previous years that there’s at least one person in front of the stage wearing the same shirt each time. See if you can find him. You’ll see him in the video, too.
From the Olathe Website: “The Olathe FREE Summer Concert series began in 2000. Each year it showcases top quality, cutting edge artists featuring a variety of family friendly genres of music. Thanks to the support from the population at large and our generous sponsors, we are accomplishing that goal. Over the past 14 years the Olathe Parks and Recreation Department has presented local, regional, national and international performers. Some of these artists are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, have won numerous Grammy Awards, have written #1 Hits on the Billboard charts, won Blues Music Awards, Country Music Awards and are in the Kansas Music Hall of Fame.
The series brings not only music to Olathe, but community giving. Each show a local charity is recognized and concert goers are encouraged to make donations. In the last 8 years more than $127,000 has been given back by the more than 15,000 a year attendees.”
Arlo Guthrie came to my town in March 2013 on a concert tour labeled “Here Comes the Kid.” It might seem funny for a sixty-something man to call himself a kid, but Arlo of “Alice’s Restaurant” will always seem like a kid to me, despite the gray hair. And Arlo is the son (kid) of iconic folk musician Woody Guthrie, whose music Arlo is celebrating on his tour, including Woody’s iconic song “This Land is Your Land.” The centennial of Woody’s birth was in 2012. Woody’s autobiography Bound for Glory received several Academy Award wins and nominations in 1977.
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo said that just like every historical location takes on more history the more it’s visited, every song takes on more layers whenever it’s played. This is particularly true of Woody’s and Arlo’s music. Folk music of old, poetry and even news clippings inspired Woody’s music, which others also performed and made their own. Arlo is continuing this tradition. He performed solo in Kansas City, but he brought with him the influences of friends, family and fellow musicians.
When I told my friend Jan that I was going to see Arlo in concert, she emailed me: “Oh, how I’d love to hear Arlo Guthrie sing ‘City of New Orleans.’ A tonic for my soul.”
The song was a tonic for Arlo, too. Before he sang “City of New Orleans” in the concert that night, Arlo told the audience that he first heard the song after a night of performing at a club in Chicago. Weary, he was in no mood to listen to any song, but reluctantly he agreed to listen to Steve Goodman sing his song for the price of a beer. Arlo promised grumpily that he’d listen as long as the beer lasted. Soon, however, Arlo forgot his fatigue as he marveled at this hymn to a train called “City of New Orleans” that traveled between Chicago and New Orleans. Arlo recorded Goodman’s “City of New Orleans” song in 1972, and it became a hit for Arlo. Goodman won a posthumous Grammy in 1985 for the song in Best Country song, performed by Willie Nelson. The song has been performed by many others, as well. (Be sure to listen to Goodman’s funny country song at the bottom of this post.)
Arlo rode the “City of New Orleans” train in 2009 from Chicago to New Orleans raising money along the route in concerts to help musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Read about Arlo’s Train Tour.
This October 9, 1969, photograph shows Arlo Guthrie singing “Amazing Grace” to his new bride Jackie Hyde, at their wedding ceremony on Guthrie’s farm in Washington, Massachusetts. The couple shared a chocolate wedding cake made by Alice Brock, for whom Arlo Guthrie’s iconic film “Alice’s Restaurant” (released in November that year) and song is named. Jackie Guthrie died on October 14, 2012, at the couple’s winter home in Florida. They had recently celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. (AP Photo/Steve Starr, file)
Arlo dedicated his song “Coming into Los Angeles” to his wife of 43 years, Jackie. He described how he first saw fell in love with Jackie not long after he arrived in California at age eighteen.
“I saw a woman ride by on a horse at the head of a rodeo parade. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but she didn’t even look at me,” he said. Three years later they met and later married. Sadly, Jackie died in October 2012, not long after Arlo, Jackie, their children and spouses and grandchildren — a group of almost 20 — had traveled across the United States and Canada on a tour celebrating Woody’s centennial birthday. Jackie recorded every Guthrie Family show during the years and posted more than 250 clips on her “Mrs. G’s Videos” YouTube channel, which can also be viewed on the family’s company website Rising Son Records as Mrs. G’s Homegrown Videos.
Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land is Your Land,” featuring Arlo, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Little Richard, John Mellancamp and many others.
What Jackie Guthrie wrote about Mrs. G’s Family Archives in 2011. (Jackie’s user name is JGuth3)
“Mother and grandmother of a bunch of folk singers! I married that wandering folk singer, Arlo Guthrie, 42 years ago.
I love shooting and editing videos. Especially when The Guthrie Family Rides Again tours, when most all of our kids and grand kids play together.”
From the concert program in March 2013:Throughout his own career, Arlo Guthrie has honored his father in song as well as in life. With the centennial of Woody’s birthday in 1912, Arlo embarked on a new solo tour, ‘Here Comes the Kid,’ continuing the celebration of Woody Guthrie’s immeasurable contributions to the landscape of American folk music.
Since childhood, Arlo was amazed by the creative genius of his father and his friends who would drop y: Leadbelly, Brownee McGee and Cisco Houston, to name a few. Not surprising, Arlo drew from those experiences and he in turn became a delineative figure for a new generation. Arlo has long paid homage to his dad with his own renditions of Woody’s songs, but of equal importance – Woody’s legacy is well defined in Arlo’s own works: in his humor, his political and social activism, and his undeniable gift for storytelling…”
In a video below, Goodman sings a comical “country” song, “You Never Even Call Me By My Name,” he wrote with John Prine, which includes all of the essential elements.
At the right, a young man plays an old piano sitting in a yard overlooking Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin.
While wandering the shores of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, this June, I heard ethereal piano music that seemed to be coming from on high. I tracked it down. On a hill above the lake shore, a young man was playing beautiful melodies on an old piano in a yard. Sadly, the piano seemed to be set out for trash removal when it still had some life in it. Not far away, an old mattress reclined against a tree, likely awaiting its final rest in a landfill. Although, the piano was missing parts and looked worn, the young man was able to produce lovely music from its keys.
The piano was manufactured by The Edmund Gram Piano Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is probably more than a hundred years old. I have a fondness for old pianos. I learned to play a piano that had once been in a dance hall in my grandparents’ hotel in Sturgis, South Dakota. When the hotel was sold, my parents brought the piano to our house in Kansas. My playing never approached the level of the music I heard this man play, but it wasn’t my old piano’s fault! (See link about the piano company at the bottom of the post.)
A young man plays an old piano that seems to be set out for the trash in Madison, Wisconsin.
A young man serenades a neighborhood with lovely music on an old piano in early evening in Madison, Wisconsin.
This is my new favorite song. It rocks! It shows great views of the Seattle area. Plus the message is important, too. I know that I’m just preaching to the choir here, because you all pick up after your pets. But you’ll enjoy the song.
I love dogs. And so that everyone will love dogs, we need to make sure that scofflaws clean up after their dogs so the poop doesn’t wash into the water supply. My daughter and son-in-law’s apartment complex provides poop bags on posts with trash cans around the grounds. It’s a great idea!
Now, for a song about keeping cats safe inside and birds safe outside!
The adorable dogs performing in this video are all rescue dogs. Thanks to Wayside Waifs for posting on Facebook.
My daughter’s wedding is now a happy memory, so now I’m almost back to my regularly scheduled activities, including photographing cats available for adoption at Wayside Waifs. Today will be the first time I see the newly completed cat palace!
Click on the link to Wayside Waifs to learn more about this wonderful no-kill animal rescue shelter in Kansas City, Missouri.
"Asleep at the Wheel," an Austin,Texas, based-band, performed in the Olathe, Kansas, Free Summer Concert series on June 11, 2010.
One of my old favorite bands came to town on Friday, June 11, 2010, — “Asleep at the Wheel” (With a headline like “Asleep at the Wheel,” you might have thought this would be a political post!) The band performed in the Olathe (Kansas) Free Concert Series. Fortunately, great friends got us great seats up front, because I got delayed walking the lovely but labor intensive dog, Loki. (More about Loki in a future post…)
One of the music lovers at the concert sports a tattoo featuring a guitar and a harmonica.
Years ago, my husband and I heard “Asleep at the Wheel” in Kansas City in another free concert series on another humid summer night, and the band was just as awesome last night. Sounds like we’re a pair of real cheapskates with a hankering for Texas swing!
Ray Benson, the founder of "Asleep at the Wheel."
Under the direction of founder and lead singer Ray Benson, “Asleep at the Wheel” is in its fortieth year. Some of the band members are barely even half that age. The band has undergone a lot of changes in membership, but still maintains that polished yet over-the-top Texas sound. Ye Haw!
“Asleep at the Wheel” has won nine Grammys. The “Wheel” has performed and recorded with many outstanding entertainers, such as Willie Nelson and The Dixie Chicks. (See Barack Obama sing with Asleep at the Wheel in a 2008 video below. Someone should have loaned the future prez a cowboy hat!) In 2005, “Asleep at the Wheel” debuted its tribute play to Bob Wills, the king of Western Swing. Check out the websites below for more information.
Jason Roberts and Elizabeth McQueen of the Texas Swing band "Asleep at the Wheel" in Olathe, Kansas, on June 11, 2010.
“Asleep at the Wheel” playing their iconic “Route 66.”
Catherine Sherman 