Madalyn and I are off to see Ringo! See you all on the other side! Wheeeee!
"In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life in the land of submarines
So we sailed up to the sun till we found the sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves in our yellow submarine......."
GUESS who I am going to see on Monday night?
RINGO!
And GUESS where I am sitting?
THIRD ROW, BABY!!!
When I first heard Ringo was touring with his All-Starr Band again I looked up the dates and he wasn't scheduled to come anywhere near here. Then I kept forgetting to check and see if any cities had been added. It just occurred to me a few days ago to check and, lo and behold, he's coming to Dallas -- on the 3rd!
A frantic search of eBay turned up two third-row tickets with a low starting bid. The price did go up a little but they were still extremely reasonable. Madalyn is going to go with me. We'll head down Monday afternoon and stay over since the concert won't be over till late.
I am so excited! I'm not sure what to expect, having never seen Ringo before. And I can't believe we will be sitting in the third row. Unreal. Madalyn was excited when I told her but I'm not sure if she'll really grasp what she's seeing or whether she'll mentally lump him in with the impersonators she's seen.
I so wish I'd gotten a chance to see John and George, as well. I'm so pleased I get to see Ringo, though, and that I get to take Madalyn! I only hope that Paul tours again so she can see him too.
I have a full report on my trip AND pictures! I have posted them to my Beatleblog already and, rather than copy the entire mess over again I will simply provide a link to the entry. DO mosey over and check it out, won't you?
I promise I will talk about other topics after this entry. I really should consider starting a Beatles blog to keep all this separate.
Anyhow, this just happened yesterday afternoon and I was so proud. We were in the car listening to the radio. The station played one of those bumpers they are wont to play that has snippets of a bunch of different songs in it. One of the snippets was from "Hey Jude." It was a micro-snippet, really; it was four words in its entirety. But John-Zachary (age 2.5) caught it and began singing from the backseat: "Hey Jude, don't make it bad...."
I've at least done one thing right.
Why is it that after 12 years of listening to the Beatles almost non-stop my face still lights up when I hear one of their songs come on the radio?
It just never gets old.
This is for all the people who don't understand why I would spend the money I'm willing to spend to see Paul.
Maybe you know about our current financial situation and you can't imagine how I would think it's okay to spend so much on concert tickets. Or maybe you don't have any idea how much we do or don't have in our bank account and you just plain don't see the point in paying such a high price to see a concert -- and then doing it more than once.
Honestly, now that I sit here at the keyboard, I don't know if I even can explain it so you'll understand. Someone asked me recently why I was spending the money and the best I could do was splutter, "But it may be my last chance!" There are lots of "last chances" in the music world, though, and probably most people still wouldn't put forth so much cash to see them. And that's one of the differences right there. It's worth it to me. It matters. I missed John. I missed George. I'll be damned if I'm going to miss Paul, as well. This may be my last shot at being there with Paul, in the very same room, hearing the songs coming from his lips, seeing the very hands that wrote those songs playing them on the piano.
It's not just that it's my last chance, though. Truth be told, even if Paul promised to do another tour, or five, or ten after this one I would still be trying to see him just as many times with just as good of seats.
I am so tempted here to take the easy way out and say "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand." The funny thing is, that's probably true. I'm not going to make anyone understand why this means so much to me, I think. But not being understood has never stopped me from talking before so I will make the attempt.
I am not just a fan of the Beatles. Fans of musical groups buy some or most of the artist's albums. They know most of the songs but not much of the background of them. They're happy if they can score tickets to a concert but they aren't devastated if they can't. They listen to lots of other artists. Their favorite may even change every so often, depending on who's got the best album out at that particular moment. If that's the kind of music fan you are, if you would get sick of listening to any group if you had to hear them too much, if you can't recognize the singer's voice in two notes of a song you have never even heard before, then you will not understand.
I live the Beatles. They are a part of me, part of who I am. I have people across the country, across the continent, across the globe, people whom I have never met in person and never will, who think of me immediately when they see something Beatles-related. That is how intertwined they are with my life and who I am as a person. When I hear one of the boys' voices coming out of the speakers in a store or a restaurant, the recognition is instantaneous. The reaction in my brain is the same as if you were sitting in a restaurant and heard your mother's or your best friend's voice coming out of the ceiling. It makes me smile every time. If I'm sad, or bored, or stressed, or angry all it takes is a song or a few minutes of video footage and all is well again. The Beatles are my comfort item. If I have managed to go several days without watching them or listening to them, I start to miss them, as though they were actually here and have gone away.
That's the best I can do right now. I don't know how else to explain it. And I definitely can't ask anyone to understand. All I can say is this is not "just a concert." I'm not going because I think Paul "is cool and I like the Beatles, too." Going to see Paul again means the world to me. It means more than any trip or any tangible thing I could buy. It means more than a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars. I have had a rough couple of years, here. The last time I saw Paul ranks in the top five best nights of my life and I have been praying ever since that he would come around again. There is no way I could not go see him. It would be completely unfathomable. Not going to see him was not an option, period. And I think that, after the crap time we've had lately, I deserve it. My children are not suffering for the money I've spent. I am not taking away food, housing, clothing, schooling, or even toys from them to make this possible.
Some might also question the wisdom of spending money to take a five-year-old to one of the concerts. Well, this child loves Paul like I do. She was only two years old when I went to pick her up from my in-laws' house after returning from one of Paul's concerts. Two years old, and when she saw me coming, wearing the concert t-shirt, she called out, "Paul!" I made a promise to myself, right there and then, that if Paul toured again Madalyn would come with me to one of the concerts. This might be my last shot, but it might be her only shot at seeing him. So we are going, come hell or high water. That is the one concert I don't have tickets for yet but we will find a way. Even if she only retains the memory of one snippet of one song, that will be enough for me. It's something I will remember for the rest of my life.
And that's all I have to say.
I must take a moment to express my current state of mind: OhmigodIonlyhave34daystillIseePaulwhatthehellamIgoingtowearohcrapIwas-
supposedtolose50poundsbynowohwellIgettoseePaulSQUEEEEEEE!
Thank you.
(The tour started this past Friday, babies! He has today and tomorrow off then will be in Atlanta on the 20th. Rock on, you lucky Atlantans!)
So there is this class at OU and the subject, believe it or not, is the Beatles.
Guess who gets to take the class?
Oh yeah, that's right -- I DO, baby!
I have known about the existence of said class for several years, ever since I started going to see 1964: the Tribute on their yearly visit to OU in the winter. But, being neither a current nor prospective student of the school, I had no expectations of ever being able to take the class.
Then, last week, I got the wild idea to ask the professor if I could simply sit in on the class without being an enrolled student. I got his name and email address from OU Information, emailed him, and damned if he didn't say yes! He has been extremely kind and accommodating and I apparently did not frighten him with my enthusiasm, which is a plus.
The class is only held in the spring so I have a little while to wait, but that's okay. I'm sure it will go by fast. Plus I sort of need to resolve the whole "no transportation" issue before I can worry about driving up to Norman and back a couple times a week. Probably a lot of people would not consider driving 140 miles, roundtrip, to take one class, but it's worth it to me. I'd drive further than that! I don't guess the class will be more than twice a week so that isn't too much trouble. I figure I will go to class then get myself a bite to eat afterward and make each trip a nice little "me time" getaway. I have emailed the professor to ask if he knows which days the class will be held yet. I will go no matter when it takes place, but it would be totally serendipitous if it just happened to be on Tuesday/Thursday (the days when both kids will be in school all day). I'm not finicky, though. I am just beyond excited to have the opportunity to participate!
I have a new favorite picture of Paul.
Because I am obsessed, I am off to Tulsa tomorrow evening to see 1964: the Tribute once again.
My favorite Beatles tribute band, I had seen them twice before this year. In February I saw them, once again, on their annual visit to OU. Then I saw them a second time in May, at Abbey Road on the River, and I enjoyed them so much I was bummed at the thought of having to wait until '06 to see them again (they always visit OU in late winter).
It occurred to me to check their website for show dates, though, and I discovered this Tulsa show was upcoming. I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale. I'll be enjoying the show from the third row. I always have so much fun at their concerts and I'm really looking forward to this -- not to mention the fact that I will be going to dinner beforehand, and will be borrowing my father-in-law's cushy Lincoln to drive up, which doesn't suck.
11.
It's a beautiful number.
Let's all ponder it for a moment: 11.
Why, you might ask?
A few footnotes from the trip:
1) I am a freak. No, really. If you haven't figured it out already from all the entries filed under this category this will do it for you. Read on.
2) I bought a bootleg CD of unreleased material and I cried....yes, CRIED...over the stereo version of "I Should've Known Better" the first time I listened to it. In my defense, it really sounds so much better than the mono version, which is the only version I'd heard up till now. John's voice is so vibrant on this version I almost feel like I could reach out and touch it. And I can hear his little intake of breath before he sings each line which, for some reason, rips my heart out. With it being in stereo the vocal track is dead center when I listen to it on the headphones and it's like his voice is inside my head instead of just going in my ears from the sides. (I know that sounds weird but anyone who has listened to a really good stereo mix of a song on headphones will know what I'm talking about.)
3) 50 bands/artists performed at Abbey Road on the River this year. I did not see all of them but I saw/heard a good many of them. And, after all of that, my absolute favorite is STILL 1964: the Tribute -- whom I had seen three times already before seeing them at AROTR. They are just superior to anyone else I've seen so far. I look forward to seeing them again when they come back to OU (as they do every year).
4) On the subject of 1964: I am fascinated by the "John" in the group. It's not so much that he looks like John as he acts like John. He has John's mannerisms and speech patterns down pat. The other guys in the other tribute bands that I've seen come across as trying too hard. It's them doing a John Lennon impression. The 1964 guy seems natural when he's doing it. I usually end up spending 3/4 of the concert just staring at him because he seems like he's channeling John.
5) When one is traveling and is tempted into buying two new (enormous and hard-bound) atlases from Borders' markdown shelves, one should also take into consideration the considerable weight of said atlases and whether or not this will put one's luggage over the checked-baggage weight limit when returning home. Because, you know, it would totally nullify any savings one had secured if one had to pay an extra $25 to get the frigging bag on the plane. I'm just saying.
6) Ooh, just checked 1964's website and they'll be playing in Tulsa at the end of July and Ft. Worth at the beginning of August. Also they already have their dates for Norman scheduled for January '06 -- three nights in a row! Robert had better be prepared to come up with quite a bit of ticket money.
When the wheels of the plane touched down in Tulsa this evening, it wasn't just my physical body that was returning to earth. At that same moment my mind -- my entire consciousness -- fell out of the Land of Beatles and back into the real world with an audible thud.
I got tickets. It involved me, a scalper, Ebay, and about $200 more than I would've spent if I'd gotten them at face value. But I have them. And now I'm completely worn out. Talk about an emotional wringer. The tickets are pretty good and I will post more about it later. Right now I'm going to go lie down or something.
I entered my first request for tickets at 10:04 (went on sale at 10) and I could not get anything. Apparently no one else could, either, judging by the thread on the McCartney forums. Which begs the question: if they didn't sell the tickets to the general public in the "general public sale" then where the hell did they go? I've tried upwards of fifty times and the two times tickets came up they were bad seats and not worth the money. Now all that's left is ticket brokers, scalpers and Ebay, for those who have available credit lines or lots of cash, or, for people like me, who could barely scrape together enough for tickets at face value, it's the end of the line. Oh, sure, I could probably find some upper-level tickets from a broker for the amount of money I have. But I'm not spending five hundred dollars to watch a stupid concert on a stupid Jumbotron.
So, thanks a lot, Paul and all who were involved in this brilliant decision-making process. Glad all the corporate bigwigs and radio stations and rich people were able to get their tickets. You must have had half the arena reserved for them because there were people who were on at 10:00, exactly, and couldn't get tickets. I didn't realize I'd have to have superhuman powers to secure tickets. Thanks for wasting my time. Hope you have a good tour.
Just having a mini-panic attack over buying the Paul tickets tomorrow. What if I can't get good seats? I am hoping for seats at least as good as the ones I got last time, if not better. I keep thinking, though, what if the first ones I pull up aren't that great? Do I buy them anyway? Or do I take a huge risk and throw them back and try again? Most of his shows are selling out in about half an hour. Now, I will be specifically requesting the best available $250 seats, which does keep me out of the upper levels (I think). And Ticketmaster.com is the way I got the seats last time so I do have a good chance, I think, of doing at least as well this time. I don't know, I'm just freaking. I am going to be devastated if we are so far away that we can't even tell it's Paul. I mean, why would I pay 500 bucks for to watch a concert on the Jumbotron? It's important to me to be close enough to actually see him because you never know if this will be my last chance. Who knows when he will retire? This could be his last tour! And I want Madalyn to be able to look at him and see that, indeed, that is Paul and not just some indiscernible blob with a guitar.
I guess if I am really unhappy with the seats we get I can keep an eye on Ebay for better ones between now and then, and maybe do some kind of swap, buying a new set and then selling the other ones. Hopefully that is a decision I won't be faced with.
Okay, breathe....breathe....certainly after this past year fate owes me a good turn....
Have I mentioned I'm going to see Paul McCartney? Really? Because I could totally say it again.
Tickets go on sale in under 59 hours, people. Come Saturday morning it's me at the computer, Mastercard in one hand, seating chart in the other. Ticketmonster had better be good to me.
(Added bonus: I probably won't mention the subject again for a good five months after the tickets have been purchased. Till then, give me a break, it's all I've got going for me right now.)
The official Paul McCartney tour dates were announced today.
Naturally, the announcement comes one day after I spent most of the money in my Paypal account at the Galleria in Dallas. *sigh*
However, according to Ticketmaster, the Dallas show does not go on sale until the 30th. So we have almost two full weeks to scrabble together enough money for two tickets.
As thrilled as I am over this development, I am also exceedingly disappointed. Paul will NOT be coming back to Oklahoma City. No, he has decided, instead, that stops in Des Moines and Omaha are necessary. Let me repeat that. O. ma. ha.
Between that and "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" I have given up ever trying to figure out what goes on in that man's head.
Robert and I have been talking, though, and we have a plan. It is thus: I will only be buying tickets for the Dallas show immediately. Then, as the summer and, hopefully, our financial situation progress we will try to plan for me to see Paul in some other city. Possibilities include Vegas (very large pie in the sky -- that will only happen if things improve dramatically) or perhaps Milwaukee (never been to Wisconsin before) or who knows where else.
Now to begin the countdown to November....
And, snap, just like that, the information I got a few days ago has been rescinded. "They" (whoever "they" may be) are now claiming Paul will be somewhere totally different on those days, Houston and Dallas are still up in the air....and STILL no official announcement on the tour schedule or when we might expect tickets to be on sale.
*Sigh* If it was anyone else, Paul, I'd have thrown up my hands in disgust and sworn off seeing them, just on principle!