nothing but a good time

**as always, double-click photos for a larger view. or to print. suitable for framing**

the video teleconference was canceled today, but the earliest i could get away was still about 1845.  stacy, alissa, renee, and i arrived at the end of a very long line at 1855, just over an hour from the time the show was supposed to start.  i am getting anxious about not getting inside. 

i am assured that there are only about 250 people in front of us, and the theater seats nearly twice that.  we wait.

we get inside and find 4 seats in the middle section about the 13th row. 

i feel better.  renee thinks we can get closer.  we do.  row 5 at house right.  i’m getting excited.  we have about 45 minutes til the show begins, and i’ve had to use the facilities twice.

at 1955–5 minutes before the show is to begin–a man walks up from backstage and points to some USO folks he knows seated in the middle section and asks if they want to come up to the “pit” area right in front of the stage.  they start to get up.  then he points to where we are sitting and asks if we would like to…i’m stepping on toes (i actually hurt renee, one of our docs) and run to the stage before he has finished giving his invitation.  i am in front of the center microphone.  i can rest my non-alcoholic lowenbrau on the stage and do. 

a thin woman comes on stage and says some nice things about the military, uses some profanity, and gets everyone to scream a lot.bret comes out, and the band starts with “talk dirty to me.” 

i’m ecstatic.  during the verse that includes “i got to touch you” he decides “you” is me.  bret gives me a high five.  i take his picture. the next song is “look what the cat dragged in.”  i realize the 3 i came with are never going to make it up to where i am.  i feel guilty for just under 3 seconds.  they shouldn’t have hesitated. bret talks to the crowd and seems genuinely appreciative of our service and of the opportunity to perform in iraq to a bunch of GIs who didn’t pay.  then he says he’s going to do some “poison” songs and several songs “from home” that he’s picked just for this trip. 

everyone is excited.  next song- “sweet home alabama.”  i realize then that the comment posted that said bret was flying out to perform just for me is, in fact, accurate. after the third chorus, he throws in a “roll tide roll” after every “sweet home alabama.”  i look at my watch to see if it’s my birthday.he does “knockin’ on heaven’s door,” “we’re an american band,” and “unskinny bop.”  he pulls out a 12-string acoustic and does “every rose has its thorn.”  i can tell he appreciates the fact that i know all the words.  before he picks the last 5 notes, he tells us he’s about to show us what he learned during the one guitar lesson his father bought him for $12.50. during “something to believe in” he decides to shake my hand.  i take more pictures. 

during “fallen angel” he lowers the guitar down to me and lets me strum while he does the bar chords on the neck (this was at the end of the song when it really wasn’t music, just noise). 

he plays “your mama don’t dance” and closes with “nothin’ but a good time.”  afterwards, he lets all of us get pictures with him in groups of 8.  i thanked him for a great show; he shakes my hand and thanks me for coming tonight. 

he only played an hour, but it may have been the most fun concert i’ve ever attended, given the location, my proximity to the stage, the crowd’s energy, the venue, and our circumstances.  during the day today, he visited with the patients at our hospital and spent some time with my roommate on the F-16 tarmac (he wanted to sit in one, he said).  as i mentioned above, he seemed genuinely grateful for the chance to perform.  several of his bandmates and crew are former military, as he told us during introductions. 

maybe the bassist?

or the drummer?

could be the guitar player…

i am very glad i went. there are more photos, but those might have to be just for me….