Hilarious...

...that is, if you are somewhat familiar with Lionel Ritchie music from the 1980s. If not, then this may not be funny to you at all, I would guess. I first saw this a few days ago (apparently it is popping up here and there on the Internet), and I don't know who created it, but he or she is pretty witty, in my opinion:

Ha ha ha - it even has the lyrics typed into the strips of paper instead of a phone number! Ah, 80s music humor at its finest, I suppose. If I was still 17 years old, I'd be printing these off and hanging them around town for fun. ;)

Tonic Concert - Again!

Yes, I went to another Tonic concert... the one in Atlanta just wasn't enough, not when I could go to another free concert in Nashville! As with the last concert post, this is just a long string of photos, so feel free to skip it if Tonic doesn't interest you. ;) The girls didn't go with me to this show - nor did Chris; I went alone, isn't that lame? - so this post is only concert photos, not even any fun ones of the kids. So, you have been warned!

The show was in downtown Nashville on the town green (or the public square; it seems to go by both names) as part of a free Thursday night concert series called "Live on the Green." I put the girls to bed at Gran and Grandad's house (well, Gran and Grandad mostly put them to bed at the girls' request!) and then, a few hours later, I left for the show. Yes, a few HOURS later. Tonic wasn't scheduled to go on until 9:30 - and that is Central time, not Eastern, so it was like 10:30 to me. I stopped at Rite-Aid to get some new batteries for my camera and then headed into downtown Nashville, armed with my trusty Googlemaps directions, my GPS, and the description from Chris's dad of the location, which I then looked at on Google's satellite maps. And what a cool parking deck they have!! It is UNDER the green. You drive down into the ground to park. Very efficient idea.

It started sprinkling as I drove into Nashville. Oh well, I thought. At the parking deck, I waited to pay for several minutes as each car seemed to stay at the pay booth for a long time. When I finally pulled up and handed the guy three dollars (because the website said that it would cost $3 to park), he said, "Somebody with cash, finally! And I don't even have to make change!" Apparently everybody else was paying with their credit cards...

So, up the elevator to the top, and I wandered in to find a spot. I was approaching the stage area at nearly 9:00, but it was already somewhat crowded. I did end up with a view along the front, although I was not right smack in front, where I would have liked to be! So, these photos were all quite dim because my flash isn't quite powerful enough, and I had to enhance them with fill light and such so they would be somewhat clear. You can see a better view of any of them by clicking on each photo.

Here is Jeff, the lead guitarist, who apparently has some issue with his guitar that needed attending to. He laid it down on the stage and squatted down to fiddle with it. He had several guitars on stage in a rack - the roadie guy, who is in the background, always turns them all on as the show is starting before the band takes the stage, which makes a delightfully loud and obnoxious sound. Jeff was the one furthest away from me, so this is one of the dimmest photos.

Group shot: Jeff, Emerson (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Dan (bass guitar). Looks like Emerson's guitar needed some adjustment as well.

The setlist for the night (I wrote it down - I know, lame again):

Open Up Your Eyes

Take Me as I Am

Bigger Than Both

Future Says Run

Top Falls Down

You Wanted More

Sugar

I Want it to Be

Daffodil

Mountain

Release Me

Wicked Soldier

Come Rest Your Head

Precious Little Bird

If You Could Only See

Casual Affair

Irish

No encore... before starting Casual Affair, Emerson said something like, "Thanks for having us tonight, it's been great," and then after that song, he said, "We're just gonna do this last one now so you can all get home," and they played Irish. I must say, it is much more fun when there is an encore like they did in Atlanta, but it certainly was getting late. They started the show at 9:15 Central and it ended just a bit after 10:30 (a bit after 11:30 to me!). I was a bit surprised that they didn't play Soldier's Daughter - they did that one in Atlanta. But hey, they played seventeen songs in an hour and twenty minutes - that's a lot! My favorite songs for them to play live are Mountain, Casual Affair, and Come Rest Your Head - they do such a great job playing those!!

Shot of the whole stage... Kevin Murphy drummed for them, but he remains hidden behind all the equipment in most shots.

I liked the composition of this one with Dan, the bassist, appearing in the little gap there.

Emerson wore a tie tonight, as you can see... I think he's singing Take Me as I Am here.

Singing only here, no hands on the guitar

Dan does his thing on the bass

Here's a glimpse of Kevin playing the drums... funny little tidbit from the show: at one point there was a long guitar riff thing going on between Jeff and Dan, and just as I looked around and thought, "Hmm, where is Emerson? He's gone!" he reappeared back on stage, cigarette in one hand, beer in the other. Kevin apparently indicated that he was thirsty, so Emerson stepped up on the platform where the drums were set up, leaned over, and poured some of the beer into Kevin's mouth - and he didn't miss a beat (literally!). It was a talented little display of teamwork, ha ha.

I like that in this group shot, you can see that the roadie is giving somebody on the board a big thumbs down sign... either he thinks what they are doing stinks, or he's asking them to turn something down!

Happy Emerson

(you can see that the camera liked giving him redeye in several shots...)

Lots of Emerson singing...

group shot

So maybe Emerson said something funny to Jeff here...

Captured lots of different expressions from Jeff...

I love watching the two of them playing right next to each other... very interesting to watch. Emerson always has his eyes on Jeff at the beginning of this song (Mountain), I assume to make sure they are playing the detailed guitar intro in synch with each other.

Emerson takes a turn with Dan now

All three together

"Mountain!" Dan does the backup vocals for this song. They do an incredible job with this song live - just beautiful. If you want to hear for yourself, go listen to this live clip of them performing the song earlier this year.

Happy Emerson again :)

Mad-looking Emerson... yeah, I hate that cigarette too, buddy. :(

Okay, so he's not really making that face at his cigarette, most likely. Chris's mom and I had a discussion about smoking the next day on the way to the apple orchard (prompted by my telling about the lady who was right next to me at the concert and lit up right there where she was inches away from strangers and blew smoke everywhere rather than stepping away from the crowd). Chris's mom was talking about a relative who has tried everything to quit smoking and cannot break the habit... the drug can seriously have a hold on one's body, and that is so sad to me that people prone to addictive-type things like smoking are basically killing themselves and can't physically make themselves stop, even the ones who really want to stop. And Emerson's got a great voice - I hate to see him do something that might mess it up, on top of how bad it is for his body... Sorry, rambling here about a depressing subject, so I'll move on now.

Another peekaboo shot from behind the speakers... or amps, whatever those big black box things are. ;)

I love the different expressions on each face here... another interesting look from Jeff, and Emerson looking all serious. Except he had undone his tie at this point, or it undid itself, so not business-like serious. ;)

Singing his heart out

I love the look on his face here for some reason!

Jeff and Em jamming again

Silly and serious again... as I said, just really fun to watch the two of them playing side by side!

My favorite group shot - the last one I took of all three of them

And there goes the tie... it's not gonna stay around his shoulders any longer!

So, at the end of the show, it was announced that Tonic was going to be at the "after party" at the Hard Rock Cafe a couple blocks away... they were going to play another set, I think, in something referred to as "the reverb room." Wow, that sounded cool... but I didn't go. Logic won out. It was already nearly midnight for me, I had driven four hours earlier in the day and would be driving four hours back home the next day, and I knew I'd be up at 7:00 with the girls, getting them ready to go to the apple orchard (another trip of 40 minutes there and 40 minutes back). I would love to hear about it from somebody who went so I can live vicariously through them. ;) I really considered going... but really, wouldn't it be even lamer to go to the Hard Rock Cafe than it already was to go to a concert alone? If Chris was there with me, I would have dragged him there to make a date out of it! Maybe one day... ah, yes, one day, if I am at a place in my life where I can do something like this again, that is. I know right now I am at a good stage to do this kind of thing since I don't have a baby currently, and I'm not quite too old yet, ha ha, even though Chris teased me about "returning to teenage life" for a night.

So, after the show, it had begun to drizzle a bit. I hung around and checked my email on my phone, waiting to see if the band might come down for autographs or anything. There wasn't a group of people hanging on the police fence waiting for them (like in ATL), except one girl who was begging the security guy to ask Jeff to come down for a photo... and what a nice guy, he obliged, even though this girl was practically all over him for the picture which her boyfriend (I assume) was taking - ick. Jeff had his arm around her shoulder but his hand held out away in a fist, kind of stiff, like he was trying not to get too close, hee hee. So, I didn't want to look that desperately obsessed, and I didn't go hang on the fence or anything. ;) The rain was starting to pick up, so they were all staying up under cover anyway, and likely needing to get to the Hard Rock soon.

So I made my way to the elevators, and I just want to say now how safe I felt here in a big city downtown area - what a nice area! The concert itself was well set up, with security in prominent locations across the green. And people are friendly... a man who was working at the hot dog stand was closing up and got on the elevator at the same time as I did, and he started commenting about the nice evening (even though it was raining - it was cool and fallish-feeling, which was great!), and he asked me if I'd had a hot dog. I told him, no, I'd eaten before coming to the show, and he responded, "Well, we'll get you next week, then!" I said I would love to have a hot dog next week, but I lived out of town, and he asked where... just a nice, friendly conversation. The elevator had buttons on it for P, P1, P2, and P3 (and maybe P4 too?), and I assumed I was parked on P1 - but the button wouldn't stay lit, and the elevator passed that floor. I figured out that I was on P2, don't know why P1 didn't work... but wouldn't you know it, the nice hot dog man drove past me as I was getting in my car and he rolled down the window and said, "Oh, glad to see you found it! have a nice night!" So friendly - that's the South, even in a larger city! :)

So, I crawled into bed at about 1:15 Eastern... and drank lots of coffee the next day for the drive back home! Starbucks "Anniversary" blend is really good, by the way!

Thanks to Tonic for another fabulous performance... maybe Chattanooga's next? Birmingham? Huntsville? Or back to the ATL?

And I leave you with a sideways, soundless video of Emerson singing part of Come Rest Your Head. What is the point, you may ask? Hmm... I guess because I wasn't supposed to take video at this concert and was secretly retaliating and using the lame video option on my digital camera because I had not brought the camcorder so I could follow the Live on the Green rules. And because he does a great job performing this song, along with Casual Affair (no video of that ne, sorry - didn't want to run out of space on my memory card!). If you have a laptop, it helps to turn it sideways... ;)

Tonic Concert!

Last Saturday, June 5th, we went back to Atlanta for a free event called SummerFest held in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood near Midtown. It is an arts festival with food, kids' activities, and music. I wanted to go especially because Tonic was performing at 6:30 that evening! I also hoped that we'd get there in time for some of the children's activities... but I knew Cecilia should have a late nap before we went, to prepare for the late night she'd have. So we didn't leave from my parents' house until close to 4:00.

Now, this post is really long, particularly because of all the photos, so just warning you... If you come to this blog to see photos of the kids, those are all at the beginning here and then again at the end, with a few shots in the middle somewhere. If you want to see pictures of Tonic performing, those are in the middle, so you can skip there if you don't want to read all the details of our trip. If you come to this blog to read parenting or Catholicism-related stuff, then sorry, this post doesn't cover either - unless taking your children to a concert would be a parenting topic...

Anyway, we arrived a bit too late for the kids' activities. They were having activities like face painting, games, crafts, etc. until 6, and when we got there at 5:40, everything was pretty much over. But they had a great playground that the girls enjoyed!

I had read that parking for this event would be limited, and it would also cost $10. So we decided to take MARTA, the city's light rail/subway system. We parked at the station near my parents' house and then rode down to the Midtown station. This took longer than usual, because not only do trains run less frequently on weekends, but we also had to get off the train we were on because it was going to be taken "out of service," whatever that means, and then board the next train that came. Since it was after 5:00 when we got to Midtown, we started walking rather than waiting for a bus, which we could transfer on to. And as we walked, no VaHi-bound buses passed us, so we walked the whole way. It was, according to directions online, a 1.5 mile walk. It sure felt farther than that! Caroline was a trooper and walked the whole way with no problem, and Cecilia rode in the backpack on Chris's back. The cost of MARTA round-trip passes was $13.50 total (Cecilia was free, and Caroline just barely qualified as being tall enough to need a pass), so it was worthwhile, even with the long walk. And the kids think riding MARTA is great fun!

Caroline was grumpy because there were only two big kid swings, both occupied, and Cecilia was swinging in a toddler swing. But then Caroline got involved in pushing Cecilia, and surprisingly, Cecilia thought this was funny and didn't scream at her to stop.

See the smile of happiness?

I had dressed the girls for the weather - nasty hot and humid - (what else would one expect of an outdoor event in Atlanta in June?). So they were wearing clothes that were as cool as possible. Kids don't seem to notice the heat much... they didn't really complain!

This playground ride was pretty cool - it's basically a big wheel that spins around. Chris and another dad pushed it while several kids rode around and around.

Then it was time to head to the stage area. It was a bit after 6:00, and we planned to eat dinner before the show. I had brought in two turkey/cheese/avocado wraps in my purse (so I could try to stay on the diet), and Chris bought some gyros from a food stand ($15 for two things - ha!). While he waited for the food, I made my way in to the stage area to scope out a spot. It looked like it was a baseball field, surrounded by a fence, with the stage set up on one side. Once Chris had the food, we walked to the back, where there were a bunch of tables and not nearly enough chairs. Caroline had to make a trip to the bathroom at this time, so Chris had the pleasure of taking her to the porta-potties while Cecilia and I started eating.

Just had to include this because of the facial expression - it looks like she doesn't like her wrap, but she ate it all... just a random face, I guess!

See? She likes it!

Cecilia sat on the table to eat (that Red Stripe beer is not hers ;). Caroline and Chris came back and had some gyros (Caroline ate most of a chicken one along with part of a wrap, and Chris ate the actual gyro - the chicken one was called a "chicken pita").

Caroline ate a bunch, so we didn't regret buying two items!

This was the girls' first real concert - they have been to a few small, local outdoor concerts in our community, but nothing this loud and with a "famous" band. My first concert was the New Kids on the Block when I was 11 - my poor dad had to take me to that one! ;) Chris actually went to a Grass Roots concert when he was really young, maybe Caroline's age. so, I guess I'm not too crazy to take my children to a rock concert before they are even school-aged!

The concert started just after we finished eating. Chris pulled out the camcorder, which was new at Christmas, to try it out shooting in this environment. It did a nice job - videos embedded further on. After two or three songs, Cecilia and I made our way to the front so I could take pictures. Chris looked through some later on the preview screen on the back of the camera and said I still had my photography skills... I used to take photos for my high school yearbook, and I always enjoyed taking photos of events... back then, I always took my camera with me to Atlanta Braves games and Florida Gators games to take pictures. Now that things are digital, wow - I don't have to worry about "wasting" shots like I did with film. So, there are many, many photos below... as usual, click on any to see them larger.

Emerson Hart, lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Tonic. This is the first photo I shot once I got to the front and was pleased to get a good picture immediately!

I love the trees in the background... they made a nice backdrop!

Dan Lavery, Tonic's bass guitarist

And Jeff Russo, Tonic's lead guitarist

He is probably thinking, "That lady is getting really obnoxious with all the flash photography!" Ha ha.

Emerson has a captivating stage presence... he smiles and makes eye contact with people in the audience. He looks genuinely happy to be doing what he is doing! In a smaller venue such as this one, that makes it even better and more personalized... not like in a huge arena where there is a massive sea of thousands of people.

They did this at the beginning of several songs, I assume to make sure they were in sync with each other... maybe somebody who knows more about guitar-playing would know for sure!

Cecilia lasted for several songs up in the front - she just cuddled up to me while I held her in one arm and the camera in the other hand. After awhile, she wanted to nurse, so we went back to the tables. Add "at a Tonic concert" to my list of interesting places in which I have nursed! Then Caroline wanted to go up front with me, and Cecilia stayed in the back with Chris. Caroline only lasted two songs in the front - I convinced her to stay for one more after that, but it was too loud for her!

More Emerson photos...

And now for some videos, all shot by Chris (I don't know how to make them fit correctly in this column, but you can watch them in Youtube without the right side being cut off!):

Here's my favorite song off the new album:

Back at the table... Caroline found some pieces of shoelaces on the ground, and she and Cecilia were playing with them for some reason...

Standing on the table and looking at the stage

Here is what the stage looked like from the tables... Summerfest sponsored by a radio station, alcohol, and more alcohol. I guess the radio station put up lots of money for this, because everything was free, and they had to pay the bands somehow!

The encore - singing "Irish," a loud, fun tune to end on!

Caroline singing "Irish" is hilarious... she basically just jabbers because she can't tell what the words are. She was singing, "Didgety-dah, didgety-dah," after hearing it, and then later said that it was "Zippety-dah, zippety-dah," as in Zippety-Doo-Dah (a song she does not know, by the way)... listen in the video above and see if you think her interpretation is accurate! ;)

The show was great - Tonic really rocked it!!

I cannot remember the whole setlist, but here is what I do remember (not necessarily in order):

Open Up Your Eyes

Daffodil

You Wanted More

I Want it to Be

Bigger Than Both

Release Me

Soldier's Daughter

Sugar

If You Could Only See

Mountain

Precious Little Bird

Encore:

Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac cover)

Irish

I know there were a few more that I am leaving off that list...

After the show, I acted like I did when I was 12 and begged to stay after to try to get autographs (my dad would always humor me and arrive at sporting events two hours ahead of time and then stay by the players' parking lot afterwards so we could take pictures and try to get autographs!)... ha ha. We went around to the back of the stage, where some police barricade fences were set up around the band's bus. Caroline was excited that the drummer, who is not technically in the band but is touring with them (since you kind of need a drummer to perform!), came over and handed her a drumstick from the show, and then he autographed it. And what a beating this drumstick had taken!!! It is very splintered... Caroline was calling it "my guitar stick," ha ha!

When Emerson came out, he signed Caroline's drumstick too, while I told him how much I loved his solo album... it was the first CD I had actually bought in probably ten years. I discovered it earlier this year because I was listening to "If You Could Only See," Tonic's most well-known hit, on Youtube, and I discovered his solo work there and liked it so much that I bought the album. From there, I learned that Tonic was back together and was releasing a new album and going on tour... which gets us to this point, how we ended up coming to the concert!

Me still babbling about liking the album yet forgetting to ask him if his house survived the Nashville floods...

Caroline telling Emerson that when she gets a guitar, he can sign it for her, and me trying to explain to Jeff that I have the new Tonic album at home, autographed already, which is why I was only getting Emerson's solo album autographed (since he walked up while Emerson was signing it and pointed to it, joking, "Who's that guy?").

Emerson handing back the autographed album and saying thanks again for the compliments on the album... and Chris was actually videotaping all of this while he was also taking these photos, amazingly... not that anyone else wants to listen to it after I have written out the play-by-play here!

Group photo - how nice they are to pose for pictures with people!

I am realizing that Cecilia's diaper was making a grand appearance here... oops.

Walking back to the Midtown MARTA station after the show... it was after 9:00 at this point. Late, late, late night for the littles! If you click on that previous group photo, you can see on Jeff's watch that it was 8:30 at that point... so, knowing we had this mile and a half walk ahead of us, we got our moment with the band quickly before we started to head back. It was quite a process to get there and back, but I think it was worth it for the great show!

Preparing to enter the station... the last time I'd ridden MARTA, they still used tokens. Now you buy a card, and you scan it on the blue circle for the gate to open and let you through... the directions say to "tap" your card, which was extremely confusing to me...

Caroline on the other side

Yes, this is a mouse in the station, right near the tracks. You would not believe the fit these two women were having over it... literally shrieking at full volume every time they say it, and looking deathly afraid as they attempted to sneak past the mouse from fifteen feet away... yelling to other random people when the mouse got within ten feet from them... Caroline and I went up to get a closer look (and a photo!).

Riding the train home... once again, we had to get off the Doraville train (sorry, I mean the yellow, er, the GOLD line) and then board a North Springs (red line) train.

After we got home, my mom asked us, "So, how was the Poison concert?" When I looked at her funny (especially since I really don't like Poison very much!), she said, "Oh, not Poison... Toxic. How was the Toxic concert?" I had to tell her, "No, Mom, not Toxic... TONIC." Ha ha!!

The next morning with Gramma, after being up until 10:30 the night before... concert hangover. Actually, Caroline was also suffering from cat allergies, we think...

Lazy Dutch, you didn't walk 3 miles and stay up until 10:30 the night before!

Here's Caroline holding up her autographed drumstick... ELH would be Emerson, and the top signature is Kevin Murphy, the drummer, although I cannot decipher what it says... I assume he signed his name, ha ha!

So, a fun time was had by all, although we experienced post-late night fallout with the kids. They usually go to bed between 7 and 8 most nights! It is fun to do something like this every once in awhile, though! And now when they are older, they can have a much cooler answer than I do to the question, "What's the first concert you attended?" ;-P