My Guitar Hero

When Eric and I were first married, in the PK (pre-kid) days, one of the things that we really enjoyed doing was to going to concerts. Not the normal loud, flashy 1980's concerts, but small intimate concerts with acoustic music. Most of them ended up being folk music with a couple of guitars in a small venue. A summer highlight was always the Redhouse Records Summerfest folk festival, usually at the Carpenter Nature Center near Hastings. Redhouse was small enough at that point that I had all of the CD's on their label. My favorite was Greg Brown. Still is. People that know me are laughing...it's not an obsession....really!! Once the kids came along, going to hear live music took a back seat to pretty much everything. We have made a point to see Greg Brown whenever he has been in town, but that's been about it. The good new is, this weekend Greg Brown will be playing in town at the Cedar Cultural Center.


And we've got tickets! :-) They've changed things at the Cedar a little bit. It used to be that if you wanted to get good seats you would have to get in line and stand in the freezing cold for several hours to get in the door first. Ugh. Now they are selling a limited number of reserved seats. And we've got some! Thank goodness, because standing in line for a few hours just isn't quite as exciting now as it was all those years ago.

Another reason I'm glad that we won't be standing in line this time is because we bought a 3rd ticket....and our guest wouldn't be too thrilled with that idea....and I really want it to be a fun experience for him. Have you guessed who will be going with us?

Yep...this little guy....well, he used to be little. Brian, my very own acoustic guitar player. In about the 5th grade Brian said that he wanted to play guitar. My response...yessss!! An instrument that I would be able to stand during all that early practice!! :-) OK, I would have said yes to drums or the oboe or whatever...but this was soooo much nicer.

Then he said, I want to play bass guitar. Huh? Are you sure? Yep...bass it was. Thump, thump, thump...hmmmm. I suggested that he might like to play a real guitar...but I didn't push it. He was playing, he was happy, that's what mattered.

Then after a couple of years he says, Mom, I'd like to play electric guitar. Hmmm...that is getting closer! He got one for Christmas that year. Afterwards I told him that he could try out my acoustic anytime he wanted to. I didn't push it, just mentioned it...and turned down the amp on the electric whenever he wasn't looking.

After playing the electric for a year or so Brian said, Mom, there's this guitar that I really like, do you want to go and look at it sometime? And there it was, a beautiful acoustic. He got it. He's happy, momma's happy. How cool is that? And to top it off, he's good!

I love to listen to him practice. He's written a few songs. He played Amazing Grace at my Dad's funeral. I've never been so proud of him as I was that day. What a tribute.

Brian also played to a large group on a mission trip last summer...to a standing ovation from what I've been told.

He's played for a group of older cute girls at church, and he's played in the classroom at school.

It's a pretty neat thing when your kids enjoy the same things that you do. And it's really a neat thing when they find something that they love and are good at. It also helps when it's something that makes the girls swoon. Look at this girl...she's so enamored with Brian and his playing that she brings him socks. A high compliment in Penny's eyes.

That I can handle. It's the girls throwing their panties onto the stage that worry me. Wait, how would I know about stuff like that. We went to folk concerts....

...well it was Greg Brown. Maybe we shouldn't bring this guy after all. What have I started?