I'm Feeling 619, But I'm Looking 925!

I got to thinking the other day about the distinct lack of exposure to live music during my lifetime. Why? Just needed something to think about on my morning drive.

Anyways, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I am pretty much an anomaly when it comes to live music, both as a teenager and as an adult.

As a teenager, I saw exactly one concert: AC/DC.

Great first date concert, but because of the fire regulations at the time, 'twas no cannon fired during the finale.

As an adult, it got a little better. I saw quite a few more concerts, and each has a strange tidbit attached to them.

1} Jethro Tull-Broadsword And The Beast tour: I got stuck seeing that one by myself as a friend I was suppose to go with was denied permission by his parental unit. Thus, we took a bus to and from New Haven to seen them perform. Opening act was called Midnight Star, I believe.

2} Wang Chung/The Cars: Don't even remember what album the tour was supporting. Bought the tickets from a cousin's dopey boyfriend when he couldn't go. Went with my brother, lost about $20 and got lost going home from Hartford.

3} The Beach Boys (mid 80's): Went with this flaky girl, which was very surprising since her mother was a major control freak and didn't let her go anywhere.

As the 80's melded into the 90's, the concert experience got better, but not by much.

4} David Hasselhoff at the Big E: To all of my married male readers, sometimes you really do have to bite the bullet and take your wife to see someone you truly loathe, just so that can score some major brownie pints for the rest of the year. 'Nuff said.

5} "Weird Al" Yankovic: Also at the Big E. This was the last time that I went to the Big E, since I found it to be a big waste of money, since because I could not partake in all of the good food being offered.

6} Atwater & Donnelly: Fantastic New England area folk duo that I first heard on WWUH in the mid-to-late 90's. Remains the only original artist that I've seen twice.

7} The Grass Roots: Not the 60's pop band, but the New England bluegrass version.

8} The New England Fiddlefest: Spent a few hours at this festival, which was held at the Bushnell Park in Hartford back in 2000 I believe.

The 2000's became incredibly bad when it came to live music. I have seem to come full circle as the only band I saw twice was a cover band.

9} Shaded Soul (I think that was the name): Decent cover band that a former co-worker of mine fronted.

So my friends, as you can plainly see my live music experience has been sporadic to say the least. I've seen exactly two concerts in this particular century (13 years and counting) and that was four years ago. The reasons as to why aren't many and in fact boil down to three.

Time.
Money.
Health.

The first two are easy to explain but the 3rd is a little trickier.

The joys of being a bad diabetic means that sometimes you can't go to a concert at night because you really have no way of keeping your insulin both cool and your syringe in one undamaged piece.

I suppose I could hit daytime festivals, which would solve number three but not quite solve one or two. In any event, it's definitely something to think about.

To close out this post, I leave you with this two part question.

The title of the post refers to the following items: a song and a band.

The first one to name the both of them correctly can win a copy of my chapbook Betrayed!

Copies are still available for purchase, which would make a great intro to the kind of story that my upcoming novel "Line 21" is all about.