My Urban Journey to Country USA

During his last tour Keith Urban treated his fan club members royally, giving us early access to the very best seats in each venue. It was wonderful and we got spoiled rotten sitting in the first few rows or  standing at the stage edge at each venue. But there is no "tour" this summer - mostly just a very few large summer festivals where Keith does not have the ability to provide prime seats to his fans. So those of us desperate for some Urban time have to put up with distant seats unless we happen across one of the rare VIP regulars at these shows wanting to sell their tickets this year.

I'm not one to cope with the crowd in the "General Admission" area of festivals, but when I saw that Country USA had some "Reserved Seats" available I bought one ticket even though it was in about the 40th row back : (.  They did not have "single day reserved seats" so my ticket was good for the full 4 day festival. I was not interested in the first day's performers, so decided to go just for the last 3 days. Keith, of course, was the headliner who would close this year's festival.

I broke up my trip to Oshkosh, WI by stopping overnight in Minneapolis where my youngest daughter has just relocated to for an internship there. We had a great dinner together and I was so pleased to see her cute little apartment and to visit the Minnesota Center for Book Arts where she is working.

The next day I battled my way through some of the summer roadwork happening everywhere and found my way to Oshkosh. I headed to the festival around five looking forward to seeing Phil Vassar and Sugarland that evening. When I arrived I decided Country USA won the "Most Ways to Scam Money Out of the Audience" prize. You had to pay $2 to even get an "alcoholic beverages bracelet" and pay $5 to WALK onto the festival grounds! Apparently too many people were unwilling to pay the high parking rates and deal with the parking lot congestion, so they had to start charging those who got rides or walked to the festival or parked elsewhere!!!

A good part of the festival ground are gravel covered - good, I suppose, when it rains, but not too pretty or too comfortable for sandal-wearers. I was happy to see that "Reserved Seats" included "deluxe bathrooms" rather than the general festival portapotties - that alone made it worth the price! I enjoyed Phil Vassar's music. I've seen him several times over the years and it seems like some of his music is moving more and more in the direction of Billy Joel's sound. He spent a good amount of time standing at the piano, jamming out melodies Billy style. I wish I had caught Phil's great rendition of Piano Man on tape but I was too busy singing along! I'll post a couple of his songs shortly.

Sugarland was fun as always and got a great response from the crowd. They too have joined the ranks of performers who give away a guitar during their performance. I was up and dancing to all of their songs - both because I loved the music and also because I had come unprepared for the dramatic drop in temperature after sunset in Wisconsin. In only my sundress I had to dance to keep warm once it hit 60! (Iowa had been staying quite warm at night). I'll add a couple of their tunes shortly too.

I left a bit before the end of Sugarland's set hoping to get a head start on the post-concert traffic congestion. No such luck! Apparently many had the same idea and the traffic leaving Country USA was perhaps the worst and the most aggressive that I had ever driven in, even though I had ponied up the $20 they charged for supposedly "Premium Parking". It was terrible and not well handled on the festival grounds - so terrible that I reconsidered whether I could put up with it 3 days in a row! (I confess I did decide to skip Brad Paisley's show the next night in favor of other local attractions for just that reason.)

So let's jump to the long-awaited last day of Country USA when Keith was scheduled. Although I kept an eye out for motorcycles riding around the Oshkosh area early in the day on Saturday, I later heard that Keith had not flown in from Nashville until later in the afternoon. I skipped the early afternoon performers and arrived at the festival about 5:00. I stopped at the ticket booth on my way in to ask about any last minute one day VIP tickets (no go), but then did pay the "Y100 Country Club" fee to be able to enter the tent where the local radio station did their preshow interviews of the performers. I listened to the sets performed by Tracy Lawrence and then Clay Walker, but didn't bother to go to the "country club" for their radio chats. I was waiting for the last interview of the day! I knew that it was probably the closest I would get to Mr. Urban at this venue.

There was quite a crowd in the Y100 tent at about 9:30, but I wiggled my way into a not-terrible position. They had a low stage with a sofa and chairs set up for the interview. They gave away a meet and greet opportunity but unfortunately I had been unaware of the contest. Finally it was time for Keith's entrance. Handsome in his black tee and blackish jeans and looking, as he often does, a bit uncomfortable in this interview setting, he was - of course- quite gracious. Keith acknowledged the pleasure of a weekend in Wisconsin and pleased the crowd with a comment about the Packers. But his funniest comment of the brief interview came after Y100 brought up a young kid from the audience and gave him backstage passes to the meet and greet that was to follow the interview. Keith piped in "Could I get some too? (backstage passes)" : )  I was a bit behind him so unfortunately did not have a full frontal view, but here is what I caught of the interview: http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=3Y5ovKiYM6o

The breaks between performers at these festivals are quite long, but the wait before Keith felt the longest (it really wasn't longer but deprivation makes one impatient!). Then suddenly, without preamble, he was there - blasting out You Gonna Fly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmJ1KtpzlCg --- yay!! He followed this song with just the chorus of Boondocks since they did not have their own video screen on stage to show the rest of the accompanying Little Big Town Clip.  We had to rely on the venue's video screens to the right and left of the stage. Even though I dashed up from my 40th row position to the very front of the "Reserved Seating"at the start of the show, I was still behind some 25 rows of VIP seats. Keith was still way too far away. So my view and my videos of the show are all from the video screens - what can you do? Pardon the graininess of the clips.

Jerry, Brian and Danny are all lightly bearded while Chris is clean shaven and with a very short haircut. Brian has abandoned his James Dean type pompadour for a longer hairstyle. Danny's hair is blonder, longer and more Keith-like than ever. Jerry wore his Mr. Clean tee.

Then came Put You in a Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbnrpejAwGw with some very fancy fingerwork on the guitar and a special "I'm in love with Wisconsin" incorporated into the song.

Then a stunning, goosebump raising, Raining on Sunday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gDZ3mOi3T0 , with Keith chiming out to the audience (as he did often that night) "Ah you sound SO good!" (You too Keith!!) We all "Whoo!"ed at the end and Keith "whooed" right back at us. He then turned his attention to different segments of the audience before breaking into Long Hot Summer.

Next up was Stupid Boy and it was so good to hear my very favorite guitar solo again http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=gr_OFABWEIE
. Sigh.

When the cheers and applause died down my heart beat sped up a bit as I heard the beat of the "coming off the stage music"!! I peered around the audience trying to see where he was headed. Unfortunately I could see, from the ripple of hysteria running through the crowd, that he was on the opposite side, quite a ways away, so again I depended on the video screens to catch a view of him out there singing I'm In. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_IGAstO59s
But Keith did run by my section on his way back to stage, but he was on the other side of the VIP fence, just out of reach for hand slaps. When he got up front he yelled "Hell yes Oshkosh!! You guys are crazy out there! That's why we love you!" And the, holding up his right hand, he added "I must have high-fived a quarterback because my hand is actually red!'

Then he went into his Georgia Woods story introduction, slightly amended for Wisconsin. "You probably have equivalent woods up here. Some place where you can get away from it all, turn off your cell phone, get off the grid....." Here's the guitar solo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85iH9NFvLt0

Next was Sweet Thing, followed by Kiss a Girl. As he asked the audience if they were in a singing mood tonight, Keith paid a bit of tribute to nearby cities: "We've got some people from Appleton here tonight. And there are some people from Milwaukee here tonight. And there are some from Green Bay here tonight." But as much as he hopes to have some "hometown" folks among those he brings up for the KAG sing-off http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=VRS7g_H492Q
 he always has audience members who have traveled far and wide to be there. So the first gal he selected for the sing-off ended up being from Michigan - but Keith then joked that she had just been telling him that "Man I wish I had been born in Wisconsin!" hee hee. The next gal was from Sheboygan but faltered on the lyrics, trying to give away the mike halfway through. The final guy, although apparently tipsy (Keith asked him to try to remain vertical), did the best job and won the audience's support in the round of applause vote.

Then Keith slowed down a bit for a beautiful Without You http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=qnmoiR0OZ-I

The leave it to Keith to add something surprising. As he was about to go into WWWBM, he threw in a couple lines from Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe, pausing a bit to have the audience join in (like he used to do with Blister in the Sun)! Too quick for me to catch on tape unfortunately, but fun.

He followed Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=29SKx7GBlvY with" Do you feel it kicking in Wisconsin? On this beautiful night, when you don't have to get up for work in the morning? And even if you did, you probably wouldn't. That bed is going to feel so good about 4 am......"  followed by the
introductions of Jerry, Danny and Brian, with their little solos.

Then, finally, the song that triggered both highs and lows: You Look Good in My Shirt. When I heard the familiar intro I immediately thought "Maybe he'll come off stage again." Not seconds later two of Keith's stagehands set up a little trunk serving as a stage and microphone not four feet in front of me!!! I was thrilled and claimed my trunk-side position- followed by a crowd of what felt like a hundred others smashing us into a swaying mass. Everyone in "Reserved Seating" was SO excited and unbelieving.
But then for some reason Keith never came out! : (  Was the crowd too big? Could he not get down off that end of the stage? Did he suddenly get the cue that their contracted ending time had arrived?? I don't know, but he stayed on stage, baffling even his stagehands,  and did a somewhat more abbreviated than usual YLGIMS. And then the final low: the show was over.  I'm sure he didn't intend to tease us out in Reserved Seating, but there were a lot of disappointed faces in the crowd around the microphone.

I dilly dallied, wasting time, knowing the traffic jam wouldn't be going anywhere anyway. I almost lost my car because by the time I got to the parking lot the rows of cars had dissolved into a snarl of cars pulling out every which way. Once I found it, I sat back and ate a few crackers and dip while I waited for the traffic to clear. Happy and mellow, my Keith addiction temporarily satisfied, and knowing I had another night of Keith to look forward the next day in another town and another festival!

Judi, Judy, Judys

The end of April brought different kinds of "blasts from my past". One was a surprise birthday party for my little sister Judi (its always disconcerting when one's baby sister hits milestone birthdays because you know what that means about your own age!). My brother-in-law did a great job organizing it and keeping it a surprise and it was fun seeing family, meeting Judi's friends and also seeing a friend from our childhood neighborhood whom we had played with since kindergarten.

The only complication was that the surprise party was in Cary, IL outside of Chicago and I had a concert ticket for a show in Des Moines the next day. So I couldn't extend my visit and had a longer-than-usual day of driving on Sunday. But everything went smoothly, I didn't hit major roadwork and my books on tape kept me entertained.

The second "blast from the past" this weekend involved another Judy! I was seeing one of my folk favorites Judy Collins perform at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. I had positively worn out my Judy Collins LPs growing up and even sang some of her songs in my brief time performing in the fad "Hootenannies" back in high school! : ) Hoyt Sherman Place is a lovely old (1927) auditorium seating 1400. It was added on to the mansion of Civil War Major and later Equitable Insurance tycoon by the Des Moines Women's Club that had taken over his homestead after his death in 1907. It is a very attractive and intimate venue and I had a nice seat upfront but off to the side. I had listened to some Judy Collins CDs on my ride and was looking forward to hearing some of my old favorites at the show.

I enjoyed the show and did hear a couple of my old favorites, but not nearly as many as I had hoped for. Judy's current tour is promoting her most recent book of memoirs, so during a good portion of the show she regaled us with stories of her encounters with various famous musicians from the sixties and seventies. Interesting stories but they did not warm my heart or create that nostalgia that hearing more songs might have. Judy still has her bell-clear voice and thrilled her Des Moines audience when she sang.
Listen to her singing Jacques Brel's "Sons of"
and  Stephen Sondheim's Send in the Clowns.
We also sang to her, in return. One on-the-ball fan realized it was the week of her birthday and got the whole crowd singing happy birthday to Judy, to her delight. So I celebrated two "Judy" birthdays this April weekend!

Two Blasts From the Past

I love the music from the sixties! All those tunes that I listened to constantly on my local Chicago station WLS, even sneaking my little transistor radio and earphones into my bed when my mom wasn't looking. This spring I got to re-visit many of those tunes when my campus performing arts center included not one, but two great sixties reviews in their season's offerings. About three weeks ago "The Midtown Men" performed. These are the stars from the original Broadway case of Jersey Boys - now on tour singing some of the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons songs from that play as well as many other pop hits from that era. I sang along with almost every lyric and had a great time. 

Then this weekend the Beatles review group called Twist and Shout came to campus, performing (with the appropriate British accents and Beatles haircuts) selections from almost all of the Beatles albums, with some fun video footage of the early 'British invasion". Again it was a show that you couldn't help but sing along with - one which sparked many fond memories of my Beatles fan days. I wonder what ever happened to my Beatles scrapbook and my ticket stub from seeing them in Chicago back in 7th grade? I wonder if today's young people will have the same fondness for the music of their tweens? Or will today's diverse, rapid overload of music via a multitude of media channels mean that nothing will really stand out for them fifty years from now?

Two Blasts From the Past

I love the music from the sixties! All those tunes that I listened to constantly on my local Chicago station,

Ingrid Michaelson in Madison

Months ago I had planned a roadtrip with my youngest daughter to see one of her favorite performers Ingrid Michaelson. I also enjoy Ingrid's songs and often include them in my before-class music. Ingrid was playing small venues after a bit of a hiatus from touring and her fans were snapping up tickets fast. The nearest venue (Twin Cities) was already sold out when I received the email announcing the tour, so I quickly purchased 2 tickets for the next closest: Madision, WI.  Annie and I marked our calendars for the April date and I reserved us a hotel within walking distance.

Well I know only too well how hectic things get towards the end of the school year, so wasn't entirely surprised when Annie told me she was a bit overwhelmed with all she had to do and didn't feel like she could take the time to go to Madison : (  . My hotel was non-refundable, though, so I asked hubby if he felt like a roadtrip to Madison and happily he said yes, as long as I didn't make him go to the concert (typical!). But I was pleased to have company for the trip.

It was a lovely weekend for a drive east to Madison and the Wisconsin portion of the drive was quite scenic (sorry Iowa). We stopped in Dubuque and had a great lunch at Crust, then continued on to Madison. To my surprise, my hotel turned out to be right on the downtown square and our room had a great view of the domed capitol and its lovely surrounding tulip beds in full bloom. We wandered around the square and then stopped for a drink before my show, watching the growing line of fans at the concert hall across the street waiting for the doors to open. I had a general admission seat in the balcony and, despite the line, scored a seat in the first row in the small ornate theatre.

An interesting group called Pearl and the Beard opened the show. They were unique, talented, funny and entertaining but otherwise hard to characterize. Here are a few of their songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z76jlXjRndY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y79N-UhF8o8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LlbuXpITGg

I enjoyed Ingrid's set but was not as familiar with her new album as I would have liked to be. Also, as is the case with most performers, she didn't include some of my favorites ( and even chatted a bit about how playing the 'old favorites' becomes a bit of a burden to the artists excited by their new material).
Take Me the Way I Am
Soldier
Ghost
Blood Brothers
The Chain
You and I
Ingrid Joking About the Power of an Upbeat Melody

Jim found us a cute and very yuppy breakfast spot just off the capitol square. We lucked out and just barely beat the crowd - by the time we finished eating there was a line outside on the sidewalk.

Jim was waiting out front when I exited the Overture Center and we had a late supper at a fast-food Greek spot down the block: gyros, Greek salad and baklava - yum! So my roadtrip was fun even if I did miss out on some mother-daughter bonding.

Lady A in Moline

Although I haven't kept up with all of their new music, I enjoyed seeing Lady Antebellum when they opened for Keith Urban and, a bit later, for Tim McGraw. So when they began their own tour I kept an eye out for a show I could make it to. When I saw that they would be coming to Moline, IL I decided that was the show for me, even though it was on a not-so-convenient Thursday night.

I bought a ticket early in the year and waited for the April date to arrive.

It was a happy coincidence when, without talking to me, my oldest daughter Jen scheduled a visit home from Rhode Island for Easter and booked the cheapest flight to Iowa that she could find - landing in Moline that very Thursday night!! When she sent me the flight info, she asked if she should rent a car for the 2.5 hours drive to Cedar Falls (since she'd arrive when Mom and Dad would be working). "No way!" I responded. "I can not only pick you up, but I'll take you to a concert before we head home if you like!" She liked and in fact invited one of her best buddies in the Quad City area who has gone to other concerts with us. I checked Ticketmaster and told Jen that it looked like only upper level seats were available at this late date, but we didn't worry too much because the Moline arena isn't that big.

And then another fortuitous bit of luck. When we firmed up our plans and I returned to Ticketmaster to purchase more tickets, suddenly Ticketmaster gave me seats in the 8th row of the lower risers mid-arena! How could this be, just days before the show?? I immediately tried to complete the purchase. But- gosh darn it - got an error message : (.

Tried again, got the same 3 seats, tried to complete the sale and Error! again!! I repeated the process a third time with the same result. Finally I decided to try to change my parameters - switching from "Ticketfast" to Will Call and (to appease the ticketmaster "gods"), added the optional $15 to join the fan club. And YES!! this time it worked, for whatever reason, so we got our 8th row seats!! Since I paid the fan club fee I decided to check the fan club site for a possible meet and greet sign up although I was pretty sure that, since the show was just a couple days away, the meet and greet sign-up had probably already taken place. The fan club site still allowed me to click on the Moline date, so I went ahead and signed up = what the heck.

Well my good luck charm was still working. About a day later I got an email saying I had won a meet and greet with Lady A!!

I couldn't head out to pick up Jen from the Moline airport until I finished teaching that day, so told Jen she would probably be stuck there for a while. She said no problem - she had her computer and was working diligently on a grant application so I could take my time. As it happens, her friend Sarah was available first, so Sarah collected Jen and they had time to catch up for a while before I got to town. Since I no longer had to rush to the airport I made a brief detour on my way to Moline to have a nice lunch with my youngest daughter Annie in Iowa City (which is right on the way). Tried to talk her into joining us in Moline but she was a stressed out grad student and felt she had to decline.

I met up with Jen and Sarah and we had a beer together at the Bent River Brewery, but then I had to head to the arena early for the meet and greet. There was a bit of complication because the box office had no meet and greet envelope for me. But I had brought along my email from the fan club and Lady A's staff member came up from the bowels of the arena to hand deliver the missing M & G wristband. I stood in line with many others for quite a while and then they finally took us back to the meet and greet room. There was no attempt to create a special atmosphere like Keith does at his backstage sessions. Instead there were just 3 stools in front of a GAC backdrop and several rows of chairs forming a semicircle (with a center aisle) in front of the stools. There were about 80 of us in attendance and I scored a seat in the second row.

A Lady A staff member told us the rules (no camera, no autographs) and briefed us on what would happen during the M & G. She then kind of preemptively answered the most frequent 'routine' questions asked at M & Gs to encourage us to come up with more unique questions.

Well that might have discouraged the fans from asking questions - when Lady A came out and opened it up for questions, initially there was silence and no hands were raised. So I raised my hand and asked if they would share a funny story from touring. (No, much as I would have liked to, I did not ask them for a "touring with Keith Urban" story!) Hillary talked about a time that they used a lift to carry them from beneath the stage up to stage level to make their grand entrance at the start of the show and the lift got stuck so that only her head was above stage level and Charles had to drag her out from the lift pit. Funnier than that, however, was the song they performed for us at the meet and greet. At the start of the M & G Lady A had told the couple little kids in the audience that they could come up front and sit on the floor if they wanted to. At least one was a very excited, perhaps 4 year old fan. When it came time for their song Hillary asked that little guy which song he wanted and he chose "Just a Kiss". But then he asked if he could come up and sit with them during the song (they said yes and got him an extra stool!). And he sang along with them and was just as cute as could be!

After the song each of us in the audience got to meet and have our photo taken alone with Lady A!! I was pretty pleased! But lordy I had never thought of myself as being particularly short (5' 7" most of my life, maybe 5' 6" now that I am older) until I met that group up close. Gosh it felt like Charles was 7 feet tall and even Hillary towered over me. In my photo it looks like I must be standing in a hole!!

By the time I got out to the arena I had missed a bit of Thompson Square's opening act, but I was there for all of Darius Rucker's set and thoroughly enjoyed all the hits I was familiar with. I must admit that some of his new songs that I did not know all sounded very much the same to me, but Darius does have an engaging stage presence.

BTW I was happy to see that Lady A's stage set up included a catwalk that extended to mid-arena (right in front of our seats). The stage itself was a bit odd - kind of donut shaped with the rear half of the donut consisting of right and left curved stairways for the artists to descend dramatically, while the front half of the donut was the curved front of the stage. The "hole" in the center of this donut stage was a VIP fan area called The Inner Circle. This Circle probably allowed an up close view when the performers were actually on the stage, but probably had a rather poor view anytime the performers went out on the length of the catwalk.

Usually it seems that the headlining group has the best quality sound at shows, but I was not impressed with the sound Lady A's sound techs created. While the group sounded great on their big songs like Run to You and Need You Now, on more rocking songs where the band has a bigger presence, Hillary's voice did not project well and the lyrics got totally lost. In fact when they opened the show with the lead track of their new album, I didn't even recognize it for several moments (even though that is one of the tracks I play over and over in my car). Here is American Honey and Run to You (sorry about the noisy women sitting behind me who should have stayed out in the concourse since they paid no attention to the performers).

I was happy that Thompson Square and Darius got to come out for a group song towards the end of the show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az1mGpGbLsQ

Jen, Sarah and I spentt the night in Moline at the quaint Stoney Creek Inn, had a quick breakfast in the morning, then Sarah went off to her newspaper job and Jen and I headed home to Cedar Falls so I could get to my Friday classes. It was great to have some concert buddies to share a fun evening with and to start off a welcome weekend visit from Jen, who lives way to far away!

Michael Pawlak and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony

And now for something completely different...

Last week I was feeling a bit down about spending the weekend alone while Hubby was out of town. But a couple emails about local events helped turn things around. Friday night I attended a four course gourmet meal, with each course accompanied by samples of 2-3 wines or craft beers, held in the decorated-for-Easter meeting room of one of my grocery stores. (which has multiple chefs on staff). The others at those dinners are always fun and friendly and some are 'regulars' so now we recognize each other. Great meal and so much more fun than dining alone!

Another email alerted me to a "flash sale" (? - perhaps they hoped to trigger a flash mob of purchasers?) offering any of the remaining seats at Saturday's symphony concert for a meer $10. Among the pieces to be performed was one that had been a favorite since high school, when my boyfriend had taken me to hear it done by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. I called and ordered a seat and, amazingly, got first row center!

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony was also featuring their percussionist Michael Pawlak that evening. He had selected a fascinating and unique Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra by Joseph Schwantner which included an amazing diversity of persussion. Pawlak had set up large arrangements of drums, xylophones, gongs, bells, triangles and other things to be tapped or struck or shook both behind and in front of the orchestra. He began the piece at the rear of the stage with incredible drumwork - I couldn't see him back there but certainly could hear his amazing percussion. But then mid-concerto he moved to the front set up, right in front of me, so I had a once in a lifetime up close and personal view of an exceptionally skillled percussionist at work. It was something else! I was wowed by the rapidity of the notes he played on the xylophone while holding 4 xylophone strikers at once (I'm sure there is a specific term for those but I don't know it!). He moved from it to drums to triangles to gongs - including one which was played while being half submerged in a plastic bin of water! So interesting and impressive!

Sunday I took myself to the Hunger Games movie which I thoroughly enjoyed. They did an excellent job representing the book (although in abbreviated form). In homage I look forward to beginning the final exams in each of my classes this semester with "And may the odds be ever in your favor!" : )