A Park Hat-Trick

Here we are at the Meadowlands, again. Not on stage, this time (you can't get VIP treatment every time!). But the old Park magic worked as usual, and on the morning of the show we scored Front Row tickets in the section diagonally off the stage at about the (floor) 7th row. Not too bad.

Oh, and the event? The kick-off of the 2009 Clapton / Winwood tour of course!

The show was fantastic, there is something about these two performers, in that each of them brings out the best in the other. Not in the Jack-Wants-to-Kill-Ginger-Maybe-I'll-Distract-Them-By-Playing-My-Ass-Off manner, but more in the Mutual Respect manner. In 2001 ol' Clappers was talking retirement, and clearly bored with playing, who would have guessed we would have this amazing resurgence from 2003 onward?



Of course, this was a special event in another way ... since I had met Miss Macpai almost exactly a year to the day earlier, at the Clapton concert at Jones Beach, on Long Island. So I proposed ... and on bended knee, at that. Happily, she accepted (not excepted), but not before some jerk pushed me over trying to get out to his car so he could wait in traffic!



After a day's rest, off we went for the 6 hour drive to the Three Rivers Festival in Pittsburgh. There for a while we were worried that we might have to fly to Europe to see one of our favorite performers, Dana Fuchs, and her crack guitar playing partner, Jon Diamond, since the fans in Europe are far more appreciative of REAL music than many people in the U.S. But the time and place were right, and our travel was rewarded with a hot set of rock, blues, gospel, country, and rockabilly, all neatly included in Dana's originals.



After getting to talk to Dana and Jon (two of the Nicest People in the Music Business), and making some new friends in the crowd, next we were treated to the exuberant energy of the always-incredible Robert Randolph and the Family Band, with a pleasant surprise, the also-incredible Aubrey Ghent on steel guitar as well!



How the heck do you follow Clapton, Winwood, Dana, and Robert ... an an engagement? Do you go home and call it a weekend? Heck no! You drive another 6 hours from Pittsburgh to Atlantic City, for one last 2009 Fleetwood Mac show!

At least .... that's the way WE roll !