Suddenly we're going out to hear music again. 

Nashville hosts a constant background of non-country concerts and club shows (in addition to the Grand Ol' Opry and the Printer's Alley clubs and lower Broadway country honky tonks) and while the quality has remained consistently high throughout my lifetime, the quantity has increased steadily.  We used to have one club with good rock shows, the Exit/In, and one concert hall, the Municipal Auditorium.  Now, in addition to the numerous clubs and concert venues, we have a couple of summer series of low-cost outdoor shows and festivals.  There's always a lot going on.

Mostly, Bill and I don't pay a lot of attention, because we're old(ish), don't drink, and can't stay up late all the time and still succeed in our demanding jobs.  We used to drink and be younger, and we went out more often then.  Now it's an every once in a while thing, and this late summer/fall is turning out to be one of those whiles.  At least, it is if yesterday is any indication.

Yesterday morning I went to the grocery store and, after loading my groceries in te truck, I remembered that we had talked about getting tickets for the upcoming Ministry show.  So I went back into the store to inquire (we have TicketMaster in the grocery store), and the tickets were only $20, so why not? I didn't know much about this show at the time-- I had seen the ad on the marquee at the Municipal Auditorium while driving downtown, and what caught my attention was the opening band:  My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult, whom I like very much.  I mentioned it to Bill, and he said he'd like to see Ministry.  After buying the tickets, I looked up the tour on the internet, and it turns out to be another political event, called "The Evil Doer Tour":

I just realized that we'll be seeing it on Election Day, as well:  November 2.  I suppose this will keep me from obsessively watching the results come in. 

This will be in our old faithful venue, Municipal Auditorium, which you can see in the skyline picture of Nashville above.  It's the low building just right of center which looks like a flying saucer sitting on the ground.  It has astonishingly bad acoustics for a Music City auditorium, but it's filled with good memories of Yes and Jethro Tull and America concerts from back in the day.  I even saw David Bowie there.

So after all of that happened, I remembered the other tickets I was supposed to investigate, and I finally returned an e-mail to my friend in FL regarding tickets for the Brian Wilson SMiLE show, which will be touring the U.S. beginning Sept. 30.  I'll have to go to Atlanta for this one, but it will be worth it, for me.  Brian could be the poster child for our agency, having recovered from addiction and mental illness enough to re-emerge from seclusion and finally present his masterpiece to the public.  I find him utterly fascinating.

And then, my daughter and her babies invited Bill and I to join them for a concert I would have missed without her intervention:  Blondie and the Psychedelic Furs for just $8 at Riverfront Park- the 'Dancin' in the District' series has returned, while I wasn't paying attention, to its proper home.  I used to attend these shows, which used to be free and on Thursdays, pretty much weekly, but they ran into problems with underage drinking, and moved it around a bit, and I stopped paying attention.  I'm very glad the older daughter woke me up for this one, as it was great fun.

Now, if I can get off my butt and get a couple of other things done, I can probably make it out to see Shakespeare in the Park this evening, as well.  This year's production of "The Comedy of Errors" incorporates some improvisation:

''Each performance of this play will be different from the others,'' Cardamone tells The Rage. ''Audience interaction is expected and impromptu situations are highly likely, so bring your family, a date or your dog, and expect a night of fun and imagination.''

I'd like to get out to more than one of them before the series ends.  So I'll try to get busy with my chores now.

12:17:53 PM    comments? []