Best news I had in last 3 years !

[peterbaron]

A different perpective:

In 1965, when I was 14 yrs old, I lived in Dayton, Ohio. My all-boys Catholic high school would have summer dances “on the slab”. Obviously, the Rolling Stones hits were played constantly.

Ten years ago, I saw them in Seattle at the Seahawks stadium. I couldn’t believe that I was seeing them in concert 40 years after that summer. I mean that literally. Up there on stage at what we would have considered to be “they are as old as my grandparents” age. My seats were so high up that I could see them arrive backstage in two white vans mere seconds before they appeared on stage. From my distant perch, I clearly saw three Starbucks cups amongst them. ;-)

The show was incredibly good...”almost” great. I loved it. But I couldn’t stop thinking about how the world and I had changed in those 40 intervening years. Cities, technologies, sound, video, crowds and so much more! I bought a poster with a close-up photo of the four. My wife watched me put it up in our tv room. “Losers!” she exclaimed. “Au contraire, mon ami!” I replied. “They are winners! Think about it, sweetie. They lived life on their terms, became certifiable geniuses (and legends) at their craft, and made obscene amounts of money doing it. And loved every minute of it!” You might not like their music, but even if you have to begrudge them their success at least acknowledge it.”

The warm-up band was Dave Matthews. “The freaking warm-up band!” Many concert-goers left after his set because that’s who they came to see. Kids these days! (At the time, Dave’s wife was in med school in town at the U of Wash.). It was a short drive for him.

Anyway, I rarely post in the forum any more. Mostly, I suppose, because of threads like this. When a forum member posts to express his joy at being able to see the Stones “one more time” on the “See ‘m before they’re dead tour”, I find it in very poor taste to turn it into a “Enough about you. Let’s talk about ME!!” thread.

Instead of congratulating someone for their good fortune and good luck, it seems several people feel obligated to share their contrary opinion of the band, all bands, family budgets, the meaning of the almighty dollar, and lord knows what else!

But...having experienced first-hand how vitriolic inmates have been about someone else (not them!) using the word farkle, I’m certainly not surprised. ;-)