Tom and I celebrated our 24th anniversary a bit early last night. We had a marvelous dinner in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant recommended by his hair stylist. A wonderful Cabernet, tender steaks, a quiet atmosphere and a bit of reminiscing.
We went out into the warm early fall night and walked a couple of blocks to the new performing arts center. Outside was a small group of musicians playing country/bluegrass music to a small crowd, their harmonies were wonderful. After a couple of songs we had to go inside to take our seats for the performance we came for.
I must admit that my husband and I do not have many shared musical interests. He loves the more metallic rock and I enjoy softer, folk and classic rock. But we do have some artists we both enjoy, and one of them was out in our burb last night - Rickie Lee Jones.
As expected, the audience was full of older folks. The guy behind us had a much younger woman on his arm - probably the youngest person in the place. He was trying to explain to her who Rickie Lee is - "She worked with Tom Waits. "Who?" "Do you know the song Chuck E's in Love?" "No." Tom and I smiled at each other. The guy stopped trying, but expounded on how "rockin'" the band would be until the lights went down, after which he was mercifully quiet.
The show was great. She is a true musician. Both in voice and with multiple instruments. It was like sitting in on a jam session or a practice. They improvised and she bossed the band around - demanding they sing in falsetto and then grinning at the audience and telling us she should have behaved this way in bed in her younger years! During some of her songs she seemed to become 20 years old again - then she would wail and raise the hairs on the back of my neck. She has lost nothing of the range and poignancy of her voice. We just loved it.
We walked out to the car so satisfied with our evening out, nice to be able to share after 24 years together.
