Friday, January 18, 2008

An Evening with Todd Rundgren















I was up a few minutes early and ready to get my day started. It was Friday and for that I was grateful but my optimism measured. After all, I couldn’t get too excited since I would be on-call this weekend. Meanwhile, I took the 7th installment of my Prilosec OTC before beginning my exercise regiment. By 7:43am I was finished with exercise and ready to head out with Ykraps. It was much colder than it was the day before. It was something like 15 degrees. It wasn’t expected to be too warm either. In fact, the temperature was expected to drop through the weekend bottoming out near zero on Sunday.

My run went well despite the chill. Once again I skipped wearing some thick under shorts. I was fine. It was very breezy. After my run I felt really good. Inside Mindy was putting the final prep on our eggs. As she often does, she asked me to take over so that she could begin loading the car. Meznwhile, Jacob was already up and dressed. He was in a surprisingly good mood. We studied his spelling words while we ate and just prior to Mindy leaving. We studied them again after Mindy left. He’s got them all. But what impressed me most was that he recognized the difference between their and there (their being on of his words this week). I know adults that can’t differentiate.

Jacob and I remained on the good side of the clock until we left for the bus stop. We drove. Pat & Alanna arrived about the same time. It was quite blustery with the cold and wind. The bus showed up around 8:02am. I was on my way to work by 8:10am.

A large part of my work day was spent in preparation of the weekend ahead. I needed to be keenly aware of a handful of system maintenance activities transpiring. For this I was a bit nervous. I didn’t bother taking a formal lunch break. I bought a chipotle for an engineer last week. He returned the favor today. Despite having a packed lunch in the fridge, I was looking forward to the big burrito. And it was delicious! My lips have been a little chapped of late. The hot sauce on my burrito irritated them. I searched my provisions for some chap stick, but had none. Yikes! Eventually, they simmered down on their very own.

The day wound down. I left for home just after 5pm. It was still very cold. The temperature moved little, if any, all day long. It was still 15 degrees. I felt really tired by the time that I arrived home. I took the back way due to heavy traffic.

I was eager to get home and catch a little rest before our night out. Mindy ordered a pizza for her & the kids. Rene was coming over to watch the kids while Mindy & I headed out to spend an evening with Todd Rundgren. While Mindy and Bella prepped to go pick-up the pizza, I fell asleep in the recliner waking after they were gone. It’s funny, one minute my mind was going a million miles per hour and the next I am waking from a very satisfying nap. I probably didn’t sleep but for ten minutes but it was so satisfying. It was a healthy transition nap. I felt like a different person when I woke.

Mindy and the kids dug into their pie while I continued relaxing. Eventually I got up and made my way to the kitchen for a couple pieces of pizza. Mindy headed up to prep for our evening out around 6:30pm. Fifteen minutes passed before I headed up to change my shirt and brush my teeth. Rene arrived around 6:55pm. We left for the show around 7:10pm.

It’s a quick drive downtown these days with a couple options from these parts. We opted for Riverside Dr, or 33E, the entire way. We were there by 7:23pm. We parked just a couple hundred yards from the Life Styles Pavilion venue in the Nationwide Arena rear lot. The signage had a familiar ring – An Evening with Todd Rundgren. I had contemplated heading to Barley’s #1 for a couple pre-show beers, but the venue was so close and it was only getting colder. We opted instead to head directly into the show. We got right in and made a beeline towards the bar. Mindy had a Guinness and I had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. As we weaved our way through the thickening crowd we happened upon my good buddy, Joey Dooley and company. I’ve been to many Todd Rundgren shows with Joey, so I wasn’t at all surprised to find him there. We hung through the show. We had a good 45 minutes to drink and chat before the concert began. Todd’s never been one to have an opening act.

Near 8:15pm the show began. It was Todd, Kasim, some guy named Prarie, and another dude. This was a slimmer, hard charging version of Todd. Without question he jammed, and jammed hard. Sometimes you just know what to expect. You might come expecting solid guitar riffs and some of familiar hits but end up getting mellow, piano bar music. Not tonight, though. He played some of his harder stuff and certainly played everything with an abundance of flair.

I was worried that Mindy might not enjoy herself for lack of familiarity but that didn’t seem to be the case. In fact, after returning to the group with drinks, Mindy professed herself a Rundgren Virgin. Todd played for a solid 2 hours. I was impressed with the wide selection of tunes he played. Definitely one of his more “jammie” shows. My favorite had to be No. 1 Lowest Common Denominator. Played as it was meant to be heard!

Sure, I left wishing he had played so many other favorites but that’s how it goes. Mindy said she enjoyed the show, too. Joey commented that it was one of his favorites, having seen a few duds just like me. Aside from running into Joey, I saw Lisa Large and her sister, Jim Darby (said his brother Mike was there too), and a host of other strangely familiar faces. The aforementioned are all known loyal Rundgren fans. I even ran into our new friend from Georgia, Tee-im (met Tim at Barley’s).

It was 10:30 by the time we pulled out of the Nationwide lot. Mindy drove. We decided that a fast stop at no other than Barley’s was in order. After all, we had to drive right by. We stopped. The bar was almost empty by then, but the folks that were there were our peeps. There, was Steve, Mark, Rick, Josh, Ed & Allie, & Christa. I had one of the new Droughtfire IPA’s. I found it tasty.

We didn’t stay long. We left for home around 11pm. We needed to get home and relieve poor Rene. In our hurry to get in, Mindy knocked me off of the porch and into the shrubs. I landed flat on my ass. Certainly wasn’t the five beers. Later, I returned there to fetch my Blackberry, which apparently fell out of my pocket while I was falling. Rene was on the couch resting when we got home. We chatted for a spell, mostly about her love life, before she left. Some lucky guy’s gonna catch a real prize someday soon! Mindy insisted on paying her for her work. I don’t know how much. We headed to bed soon after she departed.


I wanna see your number 1 lowest common denominator
You're so hot! what choo got?
On the outside i'm a good boy
Let me inside 'cause i'm full of joy
I don't want to shock you but i'm an electric eel

How's that make your denominator feel?
Think i'll surprise her
I can always depend on my great equalizer
I wanna grind, lose your mind
I kissed you once, but will i kiss you again?
Be certain with sex and you'll always have friends

Your glands wanna freak, your hands wanna speak

And your mind slips away at the peak

Recitation (a poem of love)

Time stops - the light goes on
A thundering head and no body
Washed up and woke up on the beach,
Seaside breakfast
A tender egg on white sand
Legs long and tan without a break, even to the neck
Suddenly, simultaneously, an eclipse and a snowfall
Flakes melt instantly on the shoulders like wet silver
Burning little holes all the way to the marrow
Puckered flesh like avocado sags into a green pool
All the birds leave turquoise ruts
Across the velveeta sky
It's time to scream

I wanna be your number 1 lowest common denominator

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