soak up the sun

I was surprised to learn that my childhood town was selected as a venue for Sheryl Crow.

I bought the tickets many weeks before the world was predicted to end. Remember that big joke? One of my end thoughts was the refund policy on this concert if that prediction was true.

When I left Joliet back in the 70’s, it was starting a decline. One big change that came along in the 80’s was riverboat casinos. I can see the effects all around the town of the money that was put back into the city from that. I played at one of the casinos once or twice.

Sheryl Crow played at the downtown Rialto Square Theater which was built in the 1920’s. As a teen, it was my choice place to go see 007 save the world.  I recall the bus fare to get there was about a quarter.  Also, on a lucky day I might  make-out with a girl while who-cared-what was on the screen.  My luck was better at catching the bus.

The Rialto looks much better today than it did when 007 played there. The floors are no longer sticky. It was restored to its past grandeur.

A couple of pics before the concert:

We found out that our niece is a bigger fan than I. Or just has more expendable income (?). She bought an expensive meet-and-greet ticket. We saw her down in the second or third row before the concert.

I asked her about the experience. She wrote:

ugh. it was 30 seconds, shake her hand and they took a picture that was it. I wasn't allowed to take pics..

Since Sheryl has a book, a cookbook, being lucky enough to catch a book signing would have been better.

As you probably know, Sheryl is extremely skinny. Too thin IMHO but what do I know? So I wonder if she eats much of the recipes found in her cookbook. I’m sure she has tasted all of them but probably never gets seconds.

Here’s picture from the concert that her team posted on FB:

We happened to catch another concert earlier this year, Jackson Browne. Comparisons of concerts are very subjective so with that in mind, the Sheryl Crow show had much more energy flowing into the audience.

Since she became a big hit in the 90’s, I thought the audience would be dominated by much younger fans. It appear to be a good mix of all ages. While we were certainly in the older half, our parents would have met people their age there.

As I writing this I thought of a great name for the aging fans of Sheryl Crow - crowsfeet

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Jene of the blog, "The Original Bean" has her latest music challenge up.  This time we need to post about our favorite road trip music.

Road trip music should be uplifting, energizing, wake-you-up, type of music.  Driving while sleeping does not go too well.  I have a number of CD mixes I play on road trips and many contain Sheryl Crow songs.  Here's a favorite for a summer road trip:  (oh she played this one at the concert too)