Lying on the bed, we listen to “You’ve got a lover” by Shake Russell. It was not planned. I was just looking for a YouTube version to send to someone who loved it when we had sung it the other day. But I listened to the whole thing after sending it to her. We listened. And it was a beautiful bedtime meditation. Thank you, Shake Russell. And thank you, God, for such amazing creativity and talent and artistry and work to be shared with the world and with us specifically. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise be to God. And thanks be to Shake. Amen.
Turandot is a spectacular spectacle – Puccini certainly got it right and did it well with this one, y’all. I almost cried twice, and then did cry near the end, all because of the music – it was so amazing. Robert Wilson’s visionary directing was spectacular in and of itself, yes. It was so fun and cool and amazing. But the music itself held its own… it was satisfying and utterly fulfilling… and, boy darn, was it good… Just wow…
Thank you, Houston Grand Opera, for this spectacular performance. And thank you, God, for allowing me to witness it… in gratitude, I pray. Amen!
P.S. One of the main characters suddenly had to step out (I believe it was today), and so another member of the cast played her physical role, while Juliet from the current production of Romeo and Juliet stood on the side of the stage with a music stand and in a black dress and sang the part. “Like no other,” the creative director said in his pre-show announcement, and it truly was. It was amazing on all accounts. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Amen!
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” I ask as I approach a friend first thing in the morning, at the gym. “And that I am incredibly grateful to have you in my life?”
He smiles a huge, clearly grateful smile, chuckles slightly, and replies, “Same,” slightly embarrassed yet glad.
Somehow, that song lyric was in my head as I walked up to him, and I realized that it was a valid thought to be having, too – I hadn’t told him lately that I love him. He is a very dear friend of mine, and I am incredibly grateful to have him in my life. I tell others this somewhat often, and I usually tell him, too. But I hadn’t lately. And our interaction yesterday merely supported how awesome he is and how wonderful it is and has been to have him in my life, especially this past year. True friends are a gift from God, I swear.
Thank you, God, for love and life and true friends. Thanks be to God, Hallelujah, and Amen!
Tonight, we attended a performance by the wonderful, fun musical group America. They were friends as teenagers living in England way back when their parents were stationed there in the military, I believe in the 1970s. They opened for Pink Floyd when they were 18, and have been going strongly ever since, doing roughly 100+ concerts yearly for 52 years.
As the different songs came on, seeing my mom was one of the coolest parts of the night. “Gah, I feel like I’m 15..,” was what she said early on when a particular song played that had often played at her school dances back in high school. On one, when it started, she said something like, ‘Oh, this one is s total make-out song,’ referencing how all the kids would get together for this song at dances. It was really fun, but also informative – it was great getting to see this history of my mom, as well as enjoy it all with her myself.
Thank you, God, and thank you, America, for such a wonderful night! In your name, I pray. Amen.
Tonight, my mom and I continued our tradition of going to Shake Russell concerts. It was amazing, wonderful, so many good words and feelings. The venue was an adorable old barn-type place in town that we had never before noticed but that has apparently been a music venue for small events since 1969. Lyle Lovett and Shake Russell and many other known names apparently played there all throughout the years. And it was palpable in the space. Also, the sound system was awesome – the kind where you don’t even notice there’s a sound system, because it just works so beautifully and effectively.
Uh… it was just wonderful, y’all…
God blessed this night.
God, thank you for such an amazing and wonderful and heart-filling night tonight. Thank you for the absolute blessing that is Shake Russell and his music. And thank you for my family and all of the love that surrounded me tonight. I love you. Thank you. Please, guide me to fulfill your will in all things through my life. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Gwen Stefani is another one of those artists who played an important role in my childhood. I remember singing the choruses to two of No Doubt’s songs while dancing around in the living room at our original house when I was only about four years old. They were “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak”. I didn’t know what most of the lines meant, and I even had a few words wrong (“I gotta scream my phone calls,” instead of screening them, because had no idea that screening a call was something that existed), but I loved those two songs. To this day, I can still see the image I had in my mind of this woman climbing around and walking inside this massive spider web, while her landline phone was ringing in the distance. The phone was yellow, by the way. I genuinely thought she was telling a story of how she was doing crazy stuff, like walking in an actual spider web – she was out living life – instead of sitting around, waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for calls. I’ve related to it that way ever since it came out almost 27 years ago, and I have no expectation of that changing at his point – if it hasn’t changed already, I think it won’t at all.
So, all that being said, Gwen Stefani is kind of on par with Ricky Martin in terms of how it played a role in my early childhood. Naturally, when she sang “Don’t Speak”, therefore, I cried a bit.
And then, for Spiderwebs a coupe songs or so later, I went nuts jumping around and dancing.
I did that on several songs, of course, many of which I had either forgotten had been Gwen Stefani’s songs or that I had never known were Gwen Stefani’s songs.
Of course, she ended the concert with “Hollaback Girl“, and I then discovered that it wasn’t, “Mmm this much. Mmm this much,” but “Mmm this my sh**. Mmm this my sh**.” Rather different lyrics, yes, and the real ones don’t actually fit musically as well as my version of them. So, I’m sticking to my original understanding of the lyrics on this one.
All in all, it was a great and fun concert. And she even declared, “Praise Jesus!” at one point, which was baller in a whole new way. And no, Blake Shelton did not show up. She said early on that he was “babysitting” her kids… and my friend said, ‘I believe that is just called ‘parenting’.’ 😛 But the concert was filled with songs, and she even went over by about ten minutes, she had packed so much music into it. It was great.
Thank you, God, for the absolute blessing that was tonight and today on all levels. Please, especially, bless those who showed love to me today in particular, that they feel your love more fully tomorrow. Please, guide us all to be your love through our lives. Help us to be who you made us to be. And thank you for this opportunity of life. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Talk about dreams being manifested that we never new we had, I went to the rodeo tonight with my mom, and my brother and sister-in-law and one of my brother’s childhood best friends met us as our guests. Fancy parking pass and chute seats and all.
It was black heritage night, and it was Bun B and a whole line of black heritage rappers, which was why we had been given the tickets by some older friends of my mom’s – just not their style, you see.
Most of the music, I didn’t know myself, but I’m a fan of good music – good rhythms and lyrics and beats and all of it make for a good time for me (though I often can’t understand any words in music, not just rap) – so I was enjoying it for the most part. Though, I was quite tired.
Just as my mom and I were going to head home, a couple songs came on that I not only knew, but loved (for ridiculous reasons, obviously). And what was the one that blew my mind here?
“Ridin’”. Never had a clue I would love to hear that in concert, but here we are, and I loved it! I felt like a little kid who just got to see a herd of unicorns fly by. It was way cool. Chamillionaire and “Ridin’”, y’all…
But get this: THEN Lil Flip comes out and dives into “The Way We Ball”! Y’all… the little girl in me was delighted to have me fulfilling dreams she never even thought to dream… It was super cool!!
(By the way, if you don’t know here songs by name, look them up! It’s likely you have heard them! They were both big hits around 2005 and 2002 respectively. And I had no idea the guys were from Houston until tonight!!)
Also, fun fact, Bun B’s birthday is next Saturday, March 19!! He put on an awesome collaboration and mini-festival in just a one-hour show tonight for over 73 thousand people, and I am grateful to have been present for it. What a lovely accomplishment to have as a sort of birthday present to himself! Happy Birthday, Trill OG!! You rock.
So, thank you, God, for that very unexpected blessing. Brief as it was, it was powerful, and I am grateful.
“Mommy, it’s Ricky Martin.
And he’s dancing.
And he’s wearing a kimono.
And silk gauchos.”
“Picture, please.”
Tonight was the Ricky Martin concert after the rodeo. When the full sounds of “Livin’ la vida loca” burst forth from the darkness with sparkler flames and party lights, the place went wild, myself included. And then, he was singing… he was singing these words I had forgotten that I knew prectically perfectly – as perfectly as we could get back in the pre-Internet days, if we didn’t have a copy of the CD.
And then he was dancing on the parts where he had singing breaks.
I kid you not, not even halfway through the song, I had streams of tears rolling down my face, absolutely unanticipated, unexpected. I didnt even notice I was crying until I felt a downward movement of water on the lower half of my cheeks.
But, I suppose, it makes sense. That song and the period of my life that goes with my learning its words and notes so well, those were huge for me. I remember watching Ricky Martin on MTV when I was at my brothers’ dad’s house. I remember dancing around in the living room to this song in particular on multiple occasions. I remember trying to figure out what “mocha” meant, and how it connected to a skin color.
But I never once considered any possibility of seeing Ricky Martin in real life. Let alone hearing him sing or seeing him dance. It was so far out of the realm of possibility. Ricky Martin was, to me, more along the lines of history. He was like the president or Julius Caesar. He was a real person, but not one who ever would be real to me, not the way people in my life are real to me.
And, suddenly, years and years after his initial fame and my foundation of gratitide for him and his music, he pops up… and he is accessible. I get to see THE REAL RICKY MARTIN, right there… singing, dancing, doing costume changes (including a vest that was all lace on the back with a pair of pants that had half of a kilt-like skirt… and no shirt)… looking spectacular, by the way, and bringing to life a dream I had never even known to dream.
Gracias, Ricky Martin, for all you do and all you share with the world. And thank you for releasing that book entitled “Yo” that I originally thoight was in English, and so thought you were unexpectedly thug. That still gives me a good laugh.
And thank you, God, for this spectacular blessing. Please, guide me to be your love. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Post-a-day 2022
(Still had to think about it!)
Tonight was the For King and Country concert after the rodeo. My mom and I were both surprised at how much we enjoyed it. Those guys are loving and love-filled, and they are blessing the world with both their music and their words. It felt like Church, somehow, tonight, homilies included. And they actively made a call to restore chivalry and to love, honour, and respect women at all stages and relationships for the priceless children of God that they are.
It was awesome, really. And they love to play drums (and some other instruments mixed about). They reminded me both of little kids at play and of the scene in Tarzan where all the animals are making music with the human camp’s stuff. It was a blast to be with them tonight.
What’s even more spectacular than what I’ve already mentioned? The fact that, at the end of the concert, when it seemed over – lights were off and everything – they did a sort of encore, beginning with saying, “Merry Christmas, Houston,” and then playing/singing “The Little Drummer Boy”. Spectacular. Dreams come true… I was just singing Christmas music the other day, and listening to some. Naturally, people think I’m nuts for wanting it outside of November and December. But I like to spread it throughout the year, instead of to cram it into an overload just before Christmas itself.
I went to the gym for the early Saturday workout today at 7:30. Then I went to meet my mom and a friend to help remove and dispose of the Christmas wreaths that had decorated all the graves at the Houston National Cemetery for US Veterans. It was really neat, and there were loads of people there to help. (I even got to see the spots for an old family friend and my current housemate’s/host’s grandfather.)
Then I had food and goofed around with the baby for a while before finally showering and taking a needed nap before tonight. Then I went to our rodeo committee’s social, collected some tasty barbecue that I’ll eat tomorrow, danced with a friend to live Kevin Fowler music, and then rushed into downtown to attend another live concert – but this one was unknown to me until this morning: Elton John.
There is so much I could say about this man, this master of his art, but I will keep it short here: I grew up with this man already being a legend to me. He was unreachable status, and I never even considered one day attending a concert of his – it just wasn’t going to happen, so my brain didn’t even give itself the time to be sad about it. And then, at the gym this morning, someone invites me to go with her, and she states clearly that she won’t have me pay her for my ticket. She just didn’t want to go alone, and her friend had bailed on the concert. I was absolutely delighted to step in for the drop-out this time(!!!). The concert was fabulous. This man is about to turn 75 (on 25 March). This was his 20th concert in Houston, Texas, the first having been in 1971. He can’t sing really high anymore. He hobbles slightly with his walk. He wore two sparkly suits – one all white with a Long tail and a red snake on the back, and one like his famous red checkered blazer (super sparkly, though) – and then a pink lounge-y kimono with a sparkly butterfly on the back, which he eventually took off to reveal a sparkly red and blue track suit. He changed his glasses twice, but all three pairs had rose-colored lenses. He wore his iconic right pointy earring. He plays piano like on the record albums. His spirit is evident in everything he plays and in every arm thrust and body shake he does. And, get this, he gets up from the piano after every song, (sometimes walks around bowing and encouraging folks to cheer and make noise a bit) shuffles to a little table/stand behind him, spits in a bucket, takes a sip of water, and then shuffles back to the piano and sits back down.
I am extremely grateful for this lovely opportunity, in addition to the beautiful blessing that has been the works and passion and gracious giving and sharing of Elton John’s art. Thank you, Good Sir, for all you do and have done. And thank you, God and Universe, for letting me be part of this glory tonight. May we be blessed with such love often in our lives, and may Sir Elton John truly feel the loving gratitude so much of the world has for him. Amen.
One of my favorite songs ever is “Crocodile Rock”, which he played, of course. But he sang way low for the “la”s, and it was adorable and awesome!Beautiful concert. And all the better for not having massive screens to distract us from just seeing him and listening to the music and the feelings thereby evoked.
P.S. He said that “Your Song” was his first hit in 1972. Is that right, or did I mis-hear him? Perhaps it released in 1970… But, also, that was 50 years ago. FIFTY YEARS, and his music and performances are still amazing. Thank you, Sir!
hannah ananas 