A Poet-Picker-Profit-Poet-Problem . . .Solved!
Kristofferson at 42 in 1978
If you regularly click over to test The Fishbowl waters, you may have guessed how music is my touchstone. My earliest recollections on are triggered by songs:"A walking contradiction/partly truth and partly fiction . . . "Busted flat in Baton Rouge," "Make believe you love me one more time..." And, like many folks of a "certain age" aka mine, Kris Kristofferson's song--some performed by him, but mostly not--are the playlist of my teens and twenties. So, when I learned he was performing in our village, I jumped at the chance to attend.
Here's the scary part: Kris Kristofferson is 80! Here's the scarier part: He had pretty much disappeared from the music scene these past few decades. Here's the scariest part: Why? Because of memory loss, depression, assorted other complaints doctors were treating unsuccessfully. In fact, according to an 80th birthday hurrah by Neil Strauss in the June 2016 RollingStone, having labeled Kris baby's issues as "Alzheimer," "Dementia," or "Results of too many football, hockey, head butts," the medical community told the family to expect bad to worse . . .
Kris Baby at 80 (my mom's age!) Still smokin!
Que the Rainbow: One of those doctors went beyond--and tested Kris Baby for Lyme's disease. Here's the happy: The lyme's treatment seemed to have worked! Kristofferson is Back! And touring! And that's why we were going to get to see him! And hear him play and sing!
But wait, there's more! We were supposed to be a party of four at last night's concert. But, as happens, the couple (who shall remain nameless) that were supposed to be sitting beside us backed out at the last minute. Not wanting the tickets to be wasted, we returned them to WHBPAC and were told the concert was Sold Out! And surely the tickets would be resold.
Problem Solved: When the usher showed us to our row and pointed to our seats, it wasn't hard to guess which two they were. Ours were the only empty seats in the whole theatre! Of course I checked out the folks seated next to us. I was curious to see who'd snagged the two--prime--last minute seats. One was a tall, young (too young to have been alive when KK's songs came out) curly haired guy; next to me was an older women (probably my age). At first I thought they were mother and son--or grandson--and thought "sweet", but a little eaves dropping quickly sussed out that they did not know each other. In fact, the young guy was trying hard not to be "with" the lady--trying so hard he was practically leaning on the person seated on his other side.
Why? Maybe because the lady seated next to me was crying. She cried through the whole concert. During some songs sniffling softly; during others sobbing. At one point, I reached over and held her arm. She looked at me, and smiled. Hers, like mine, were happy tears.
Can't tell you how the concert affected the young guy (hope it did). But I can say for sure, how it happened with those two extra tickets, happened for exactly the right reason, and to exactly the right person. This ole' world keeps on turning...
