The St.evie Wo.nder Concert

I'm sitting at work doing nothing, so I might as well get my post out of the way. Friday was the St.evie Won.der concert that I have been talking about all week. It was (insert superlative phrase here.) The man has more hits than a Mik.e Ty.son fight. It was a real cool scene. It almost didn't happen though...

I think I told you it was an outdoors concert. Well, all day Friday the rain was coming down in apocalyptic proportions. I mean the sky looked like it was going to literally drop down and smother the earth. It wasn't a good look. I was cool with sitting in the rain, especially since I paid for the tickets, but Phd was kinda gloomy about the whole thing, having just gotten her hair done and all. Truth be told, somebody was going to the concert with me. Ain't no way in hell them tickets were going to waste. Anyway, after me commanding Mother Nature to comply, it finally stopped raining about 90 minutes before the show. The sky still looked ominous, but once we got there not one more drop of rain fell and by the time we hit the highway, PhD was excited again about the concert.

So, we get to the Chas.tain Pa.rk Am.pit.h.eatre (I had already done a dry run to make sure I wouldn't get lost) and parked in the parking lot. To my surprise, it was really close to the gate. t only took like 2 minutes to walk to the venue. The gates opened at 6:30 and the show didnt start until 8, so we were some of the first people there. Our tickets were on the lawn, which at first seemed like some bad tickets, but actually turned out to be the best seats in the house, except for the tables directly in front of the stage. PhD picked a good spot for us, we had plenty of room to stretch out the blanket and picnic basket (we did the grown up wine and cheese thing, or as I called it, the bougie experience.) We also were up higher than everybody else so we got to see everything, well as much as can be seen there. It was a cozy little spot, not like one of those huge stadiums where there are no good seats anywhere.

The show was great. Stev.ie did his thing for about 2.5 hours with no opening act. I knew most of the songs but there were a couple I didn't recognize. He brought Ind.ia.Ari.e out for a 20 minute rendition of "Ri.bbo.n in the Sk.y", which just so happens to be my favorite song of all time. They did an audience participation sing along thing that was fun too. Stev.ie sounded like he was a CD, his singing was flawless, the band was phenomenal, and the back up singers including his daughter were on point. The only thing that was a little strange was when Stevie decided to talk to the audience. He seemed to channel Ja.mes Bro.wn, cuz I couldn't understand a word he was saying (except when he went on a diatribe about how White people and Black people say the word "ridiculous" differently.) I was thinking "yeah, S.tevie! Shut up and sing." But it was a mad cool scene.

Now the people there were funny as hell. I found out that PhD is also a fan of one of my favorite pasttimes: talking about people. Let me give you a few examples of the tomfoolery I saw at the concert. First of all, who smokes weed at a Ste.vie W.onder concert? Apparently, the girl with the dreads (I know a stereotype, but is true) sitting next to me, and the stoner looking White guy with the hemp shirt and the hackysack ball. They were getting blazed at the concert. Then we have the middle age couple who were heavy into a Seagra.m's bottle, and were stumbling around. They had a mini bar in their cooler, and I swear they drank the whole damn thing. When St.evie sang "D.o I D.o", they decided to start stepping and they were getting the hell down. I tried to get a picture of them, but security was consficating cameras out there, so I kept it on the low. And my personal (least) favorite was a couple, who had to be in their late 50's, who were getting down to St.evie. It was refreshing watching them, until towards the end, they decided to have an unfortunate display of PDA that sickened me. I mean the kissing was enough, but then the butt grabbing and finger popping (yes you read that right) was fucking ridickalus (that's how Black people say it.) We were disgusted and yet couldn't look away. I mean, they were standing there in full view of everyone. And this member of the AARP had his hands in the front of his wife's shorts, while she writhed in ecstasy. Shit was nasty!

I had a really great time at the concert Friday, nastiness aside. To quote, E.ddie Mu.rphy "Stev.ie Wond.er is a musical genius!" It didn't rain at all and PhD and I had another great date. What can I do to top this one? I have no idea what's next. I wasn't able to get any pictures or video of the show, since cameras were banned, but I did get a few before the show started. If I can find my USB cord I'll upload a few, so you can see how I looked all cleaned up and maybe I'll put up a pic of me and ol girl, but probably not. LOL! Did I mention that she met my sister on Friday? That was a little weird too. Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful start to the week, and I'll get at ya later. One!