The Concert to Beat ALL Concerts...

On Friday, August 26, 2011, Dean and I ventured to Portland, Oregon to experience our second Josh Groban Concert. The last time we saw him was in Washington, I believe in 2002 or 2003 for his "Closer" tour. That was 8 or 9 years ago! And Josh has matured!



He's calling this tour his "Straight To You" Tour...and that is exactly what it is. He interacts up close and personal with the audience, like I have never seen anyone do before.




We had Floor seats, in Row 20, and they were superb seats. But, the best part was that he opened in the middle of the floor, on a raised platform and Dean and I stumbled on this fact quite by accident.







Dean, the forever snapping photos person that he is, saw this huge square in the middle of the floor section and he was interested in the crew who would controll the lighting, sound and graphics displays via 5 or 6 computers all set up.



Then, he noticed in front of all of this equipment, there was a piano and a couple of mikes set up. He enquired what this was all about, and was told this was where Josh would "open" his show. So, he grabbed me, and we stood within 5 feet of the platform to watch this opening. We were not disappointed!

The house lights went dark, and we got to see Josh enter and climb the stairs (he later referred to as "G-A-P-S!" Which stands for Groban Access Points. Very clever. He said they were his Body Guard's nightmare!). And then, he sat down at the piano and began his first number. I was too enthralled about being so close that I didn't put te name of it in my memory bank!

The following pictures are a few of the snaps that we got there on his floor stage.









From the floor stage, he ran to the stage to do the rest of his 2 hour, non-stop performance. He has amazing energy; an incredible orchestra, consisting of 2 violinists, 1 viola player, 1 cello player, 2 percussionists, 2 french horn players, an amazing trumpet player (who blew Dean away with one number with only piano, Josh and trumpet!) a guitar player (phenomenal!) and a piano player; and an energetic and talented stage crew.

For a great deal of his numbers, he accompanied himself on the piano. How he does that, I will never know...and he does it with his eyes closed!



Dean and I expecially loved the part when he came down into the audience and interacted with them. Before the show began, audience members (who had their cell phones) texted him questions and then during the show, he answered three of them. One was from a mother who asked if Josh would sing with her daughter. He came down into the audience and got her and took her up onto the center platform and they sang a beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday!" It was cute, fun and the girl did have a nice voice.



Toward the end of his performance, Josh did some amazing drum sets. The young man has a world of talent. And he expresses his gratitude to the "break" he received as a child with music that was available both in the schools he attended and through after school arts programs. He is an advocate for the Arts and if you go to his web site (joshgroban.com), you can donate to help kids who are missing out on these programs because of all of the cuts from schools of the Arts. It is a wonderfully worthy cause.



The one number that stood out as the best of the show, was his tribute to our wounded warriors and their families who have come home since the war. He visits them in Walter Reid Hospital and Bathesda Naval Hospital. He has been so touched by them, that he wrote "The War At Home." It continues to bring tears to my eyes.

All in all, the concert in Portland was something that I cannot find words to describe. We shall look forward to his next one, and hope it isn't 9 years down the road.

YeeHaw...

Every once in a blue moon, an opportunity comes to just get away from it all and escape to another "world!" Such was our opportunity this past weekend, when we did just that. The other "world" we escaped to was the 4th Annual Brownsville (Oregon) Music Festival. Brownsville is a little farming community south and east of Albany, Oregon, where once a year the whole world converges out in a big old field which has been turned into a country fair atmosphere.

The headliner we came to see was Alan Jackson, a long time favorite of mine whose hit country songs could just about circle the globe! I remember him most for the song he did right after 9/11, "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning..." on that September day? I remember it for two reasons. Number one, it spoke of a time in our history (the 10th anniversary we are about to observe) when all the world mourned the impossible happening on our soil. It was the day when four airliners were hijacked by suicidal terrorists and plowed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.

The second reason that song was so dear to my heart is becaus it was the song that my dying mother requested that I play over and over again for her when she was tucked into her bed and ready to sleep. She would say to me, "Put on that Alan Jackson song for me, would you?" And I would play it for her.

The Music Festival was a three day affair. We attended on Saturday, August 20th and the heat was intense. We are told that it was 92 degrees and the hottest day of the summer. The crowd was the biggest I have seen in ages. There must have been 50,000 people there, including men, women and children. Les Schwab (an Oregon tire king) had set up a tent and supplied water bottles and saltd pretzels for those who got too much sun. I was numbered among the many who suffered in the heat.

I thought I could "tough it out" and endure the heat, but soon realized that that was a crazy idea. I suffered from heat stroke twice, got out of the sun, drank about a gallon of water and ate probably a bag of pretzels. I covered my face and neck with ice and dumped water down my neck and back. Thank goodness for Les Schwab. (I also bought a cowboy hat to cover my head...I have to admit my husband was right...I needed a hat! Darn, it's hard to say I was wrong!)



The first "warm up" singer to entertain us was Sunny Sweeny. I can't say that I have ever heard of her, but I was impressed with the music she shared with us. She has an itty-bitty voice that just rings of country/western flavor. I really liked her.



The next act to take the stage was Steve Azar. I have heard his songs before, and though he wasn't as energetic as I remember him, he was entertaining. He plays a mean guitar.



Third up was one of my favorites, Phil Vassar. He had the most energetic program ever. He plays an amazing piano, while he sings upbeat country/western songs. I really loved his program. I will definitely be online when I get home to purchase his latest CD.

The festival planned its programming beautifully, giving about an hour between programs for folks to cool off, shop in the many vender booths set up around the venue, or find something really yummy to eat. We filled up on tri-tip sandwichs, corn on the cob, lemonade, ice cream and, of course, water!

Finally, at 9:30 P.M., the star we came to see, took the stage! There was a phenominal sunset, huge globe lights set up all around the grounds, and a stage complete with screens to view him "up close and personal."



We were not disappointed. There on stage, bigger than life, was one of my all-time favorites, Alan Jackson. (I must say, he's aged some over the years!) He didn't disappoint me, either. He sang nearly all of his #1 hits, plus many others that I am familiar with. But the highlight for me, was when he sang, "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?" Tears flowed, as I remembered the nighttime routine of playing that song for my Mom! Thank you, Alan, for singing that one just for me!



And so, ends the 4th Annual Brownsville Music Festival, sponsored by Bi-Mart (and others) and begins our long, slow journey back to Albany (20+ miles) to our motel. Needless-to-say, with 50,000 people trying to get out of a parking lot, funneling down into one lane to get out on the highway, it was a very, very slow process. It took us nearly one and one-half hours to get just out of the parking lot. We got to our motel at 1:30 A.M., two very tired old people!

I do have to say, though, that the whole day, in spite of heat stroke, drowning in water, sitting in hot sun, slowly creeping out of the parking lot (sometimes not even moving for 15-20 minutes at a time), and getting to bed after 2:00 A.M., it was all completely worth it and we will be back again next year!

Happy Birthday, Heather...

Tuesday, August 2, 2011 Happy Birthday, Heather...

Today is my baby girl's birthday! She's not 2 1/2 any more, nor is she 10, 20, or even 30. She's a big girl with babies of her own. But, in my heart and memory, she will always be my "baby girl!"

I want to tell you about the Story of The Grapes.

When Heather was just a baby, she found comfort in her thumb and her favorite blankie. Having a thumb-sucker was not a new experience for me. Her big sister, JerriAnne had found comfort in her thumb as well. We tried everything with JerriAnne, short of somehow hiding her thumb, and nothing worked. She even sucked off the tobasco sauce we put on her thumb and seemed to enjoy it.

Having had those experiences with JerriAnne, we decided not to go to such lengths with Heather. She would outgrow it.

By the time Heather was one year old, we noticed a phenomenon happening that I had not seen with JerriAnne. She lost interest in the contents of her bottle, but started sucking her thumb while rubbing the bottle's nipple between the fingers of her other hand and holding it close to her face. This had replaced her blankie. I figured this was a good time to get rid of her bottle, and I did. She didn't miss the bottle, but she missed the nipple.

By the time she was walking quite well, I found Heather standing in front of our coffee table, playing with the plastic grapes that I had in a bowl on the table. She had found a replacement for her bottle's nipple--a plastic grape! She would squeeze the little grapes and suck her thumb and stand there for a very long time.

After a while, I noticed that the grapes started to disappear off of the clusters and I would find loose grapes all over the house. Heather had discovered that they pulled off! Quite a resourceful little one, she was! Well, that went on for years. I had to keep buying new clusters of grapes every year to replace the now bare ones that Heather had stripped of their tempting fruit! Why, I even found a grape in the parking lot of the local supermarket, and I knew Heather had been there! It brought a smile to my lips.

She eventually grew out of both the grapes and her thumb and turned out to be one of my choicest daughters. What a treasure she is in my life and in the lives of her husband and her children. Now, every time I see a cluster of plastic grapes, I am reminded of a little girl standing next to the coffee table with her thumb in her mouth, squeezing her prize for the moment.

God has blessed me with wnderful memories and He blessed me with an awesome daughter on August 2, 1972. Happy Birthday, again, dear daughter. I love you!