Sunday, June 14, 2015

Colin Hays, Violent Femmes and The Bare Naked Ladies Walk Into A Bar...

OK well they didn't walk into a bar that I SAW, but don't their names said together sound like the beginning to a dirty joke?  Sometimes you don't even know you need a little vacation until you take one.  This blog is being typed at my Pat Head friends house in Milwaukee, The Woman To Blame.  She won tickets to see the aforementioned opening joke.  And WHAT A FUCKING BLAST we had.  I have to admit neither of us knew who Colin Hays was.  Which is very embarrassing in retrospect.  As The Woman To Blame thought he was some Voice or American Idol kid to which I was not interested.  BUT we were pleasantly  and wonderfully surprised when he was no other than the lead singer to Men At Work.  And what a great warm up or as he so aptly put it, "I'm your foreplay for the evening so lets take it slow."  His glorious humor about his old bands writing styles ("we wrote all those song stoned") and deft fingers on the acoustic guitar were just the right warm up before The Femmes hit the stage with there pumping, rhythmic songs from old and some new.  This was the band I had come specifically to see and I was not disappointed at all with their performance or the song list.  From Blister and Add It Up all the way to American Music.  And the largest Sax I've ever seen.  When The Bare Naked Ladies hit the stage the lights were the lights of a band with some money to spend, and I found out they were bigger Femmes fans than I.  And like kids confronting their idols they almost giggled asking for more rounds of applause for them, which we gladly gave. This was the band The Woman To Blame came to see and she was equally happy with the show with the exception that they did not do Alcohol.  Polishfest was going on at Summerfest grounds and the fireworks opened with The Ladies, and then the flood of rain started.  As true performers they asked if we should continue which of course we thought, yes. The roof would surly hold.  As drips started to appear near the stage, we yelled and clapped and sang along, laughing at the possibility of building an ark.  The lead singer of the Ladies said, "When we build the ark we'll only need one man and one woman the rest will be animals, unfortunately, so start paring yourselves up by twos."  I enjoyed how much the entire band joked around with us and each other.  You could tell they were friends and business partners, not just a band trying to make some money, but they really enjoyed performing.  The finale of popular new and old rock songs had us screaming lyrics with our already shredded vocal cords.

We spent our time before the show having lunch at Kopps, a restaurant that Mr. Charisma had taken me to that I wanted a better memory for.  Which I got.  And then walking around the shops of Brady street.  Where I found the cutest hair tie in blue dreads to match my hair perfectly.  And stopped At Nomads for a beer.  I had to have a Spotted Cow since I can't get them in Illinois.  At dinner, we chose Mexican and mango margaritas were my poison and more beer at the concert.  I'm so out of practice drinking I thought I'd be hungover for sure, but I'm not.  Guess I still have my drinking legs.  I will leave Milwaukee this morning for my Windy City with fond memories once again instead of sad ones, and that is what healing is all about.  Being able to go back and see, and forgive.  And possibly even forget.  The forgetting is the hard part for me.  Which tends to effect the forgiveness in a smaller way than how it effects my self esteem or fear of trying again. 

I had so much fun just being myself this weekend, and I've miss me.  It makes me know that no matter how afraid I am I need to try to make some friends in Chicago.  But where to start?  Its an adventure, and I hope soon I will meet another friend I can add to my close ring.  A person that has another group of friends I can get to know.  Some people older than my daily routine of tying shoes and changing diapers.  I think its time to try to put on some American Music and spread my wings again. 

Cheers

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