Miller Time!

Last night I scored tickets to the Steve Miller Band concert at Common Grounds Music Festival. With me as always was “Bessie” my partner in crime (specifically for the hard cord 70s and 80s music experiences)….Journey comes on the radio and I call her! Bessie understands my appreciation for the randomly obscure as well as knowing better than to let a once in a lifetime opportunity like this to pass her by. Given she would probably only go for Steve Miller tickets once in a lifetime but that is just semantics. Anyway, I just noticed “Bessie” also wrote a review on her site “Mrs. Ca”, check it out.

The sun was slowly sinking behind the skyline as Bessie and I were making our way up to some primo seats. We are a pretty big deal…VIPS...alls I’m saying...The “Huntunes” were finishing up their set which was good because I was at the point where after you make fun of a band for so long you begin to pity the guy that gave them the okay to play! I spose as long as the band enjoyed themselves then that is all that matters, because the crowd sure was not! Two of the band members had shaved heads. I couldn’t tell you what they sang but I can say that the thought of how it would feel to burn your bald head did cross my mind a few times when they were up there, dressed in black and bobbing to the beat. They tried to do a version of Cash’s “Folsom Prison” and I nearly threw my chair at the stage. How dare they ruin such a sacred song! To say their version was weak would be generous.

Another monent of note was when the Mayor got up and welcomed the crowd. I found that hilarious because as he walked down the main aisle and passed Bessie and I, I discovered how tiny he is. I talked on this blog about the Kenny Chesany phenomenon...you know how Kenny is really only three feet tall and that it is just lighting and effects that make him life size? Well, same thing here. Our mayor is an Oompah-Loompah. Go figure! While waiting in line for the bathroom later on he came by and was shaking people's hands which weirded me out a little. I guess all us in line were a captive audience but even so, ewh!

The concert was sold out and the freaky side of Lansing came out of the woodwork for Steven. The first thing that struck me was that I forgot to wear tie-dye! I totally didn’t think! The loyal ones probably know what to wear because they are permanently living in 1970 and probably haven't changed or dare I say bathed since. There were a few women wearing (and I use that term loosely) bathing suits as well which of course was weird because besides there was no beach in sight and nobody wanted to see their bodies....see Mrs. Ca's entry, she nailed it!

So, Steve and his posse came on stage but Bessie and I didn’t buy into it until the third song “Abracadabra”. It was awesome! For a couple of his other lesser know tunes I tried to sing it over and it totally worked with the music. He's a blues rocker at heart which I enjoyed.

The crowd really got going when psychedelic images were projected on a big white trampoline above the band as the colorful instrumentation began for “Fly Like an Eagle”. After over ten minutes of flying I began to tire and found I was spending most of my time avoiding being crushed by huge drunk girl to my right rather than enjoy the music. During this time though I did take in our surroundings. In front of us sat Hugh Hefner with his trophy gal and just beside them accumulated a group of women dancing along the gate passing around drinks and joints and continually yelling such marque phrases like, "This is the best band ever!" and "Play Jokester!" Actually I started that to see if they would repeat me...and they did! Morons!

As the refraim played for the thirtieth time, Bessie turned to me and yelled “This is not Freebird!” which got me laughing. I guess if I was high or drunk or mentally altered in some other way, I wouldn’t have minded so much because that the state Steve intended for his listeners to be in I spose. Just staying “tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock” over and over again for three straight minutes though was great because it really drove the point of "time slippin’"…because singing the refraim a half dozen more times didn’t quite get me there.

Steve brought us back into the fold with “Rock N’ Me”. By this point I was yelling for "The Joker" in between every song but tricky Steve waited till the end to slip in that number. What a joker!

Well played Steve, well played!

In conclusion I would like to thank Bessie for coming along as well as for putting up with my code name for her in this entry! I thought it was pretty funny. I would also like to express my appreciation to the Oasis VIP area where I enjoyed a pleasant evening sipping wine along the shores of the Grand River. I also would like to thank drunk girl and her gang for keeping it lite and not crushing me or my friend when you decided to bust a move that resembled more of a near fall.

I enjoyed myself but I better get started on working on my guy to hand over some more tickets for the other performers this week. It will take plenty of sucking up but I am fotuneately not above groveling! The ones of note performing this week are Poison, Styx, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, & Etta James. Any would be great to see!

Later!