Brad Paisley in Atlanta

It was fun posing with the card-Brad at the Mossy Oak booth, wish it had been real!

Of course, we had our pictures taken with The Band Perry as well. Digital enhancements sure are fun! You can be in the photo with anyone at anytime and anywhere!

Photo booth with The Band Perry, Beth and me 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

The Coca Cola Photo Booth

Atlanta is the place.

 

Aaron's Lakewood Amphitheater is the setting.

BRAD PAISLEY IS THE MAN!!

Thank you, Beth!! What an awesome birthday present! 

HOLY COW!! BRAD PAISLEY!!

For the record, going to Atlanta for the two of us is an adventure in how to get lost, get stuck in traffic, get rerouted through hell and half of Georgia and still manage to make it to the hotel in time to change and get a quick nap before the concert.

The intent Saturday morning started out oh so well. We left Athens in plenty of time to drive to the Atlanta temple to catch a session. Or at least that was the intent...

Foolish mortals we, the Devil laughed at our plans and used the Georgia DOT to cause chaos to erupt on the roads and highways all in, around and to Atlanta. I honestly think I have never seen that many orange and white construction barrels! Ever! They littered the highway like so much flotsam and jetsam on the waves. The road narrowed and widened and narrowed again like a Hollywood starlet on a diet, binge and diet again program. It was a vicious game of dodge the big rigs and try not to scrape up Beth's truck 'George' on the cars, trucks, rigs, barriers and dividers all along the board game called the I-20 roadway.

By the time we actually got to the temple in Sandy Springs, we had been delayed on the road for so long it was unbelievable. And, to borrow a phrase from my cousin Alice Waldron, "I should probably eat something... my stomach sounds like a chorus of wild dogs". We both definitely needed food and we weren't going to be able to make it through a temple session without it. We looked at the clock. Holy cow!! It was already past time for current session to be starting, we'd have NO time to change and it would be TWO MORE HOURS until time for the next session by which time we would be late getting to the Amphitheater to find a parking place anywhere within a 5 mile walk.  

CURSE YOU, DEVIL! Those highway construction signs and detoured roads were a deliberate tactic... and it worked. At least this time. There just would NOT be sufficient time to eat anything reasonable and still make it back to the temple in order to do a session!

Atlanta temple no longer has a cafeteria for patrons. Sadness. The nice man at the desk said they had vending machines. That didn't sound helpful to two starving women who hadn't eaten since 5 a.m.

We decided to be prudent and go eat actual food. The vending machine adventure was forestalled until another time. Oddly, neither Beth nor I realized how soon vending machines would enter our lives again! Pay attention! There WILL be a test... probably.

I had a card to eat at "On the Border", a fine Mexican food joint indeed. Although the food is Anglicized, it was truly excellent... so good and so large were the portions, that while we ate all we could of what was served, and it was SOOOO good,  but we soon realized there wasn't enough belly on either side of the table to scarf it all down. And frankly, that's saying a lot, because Beth and I are Mexican food pigs. It was a pity. Truly. A pity. The food was AMAZING and I hated to leave even one grain of rice behind!

Dragging our overstuffed carcasses to the truck after we ate, we meandered along with Beth behind the wheel and me navigating. Yeah, I know, I'm laughing, too. We got checked into the Holiday Inn hotel right across Turner Field. We had an interesting time getting into the hotel at all. The Braves game had been moved up about 3 hours and the streets all seemed to be narrowing down to one lone thoroughfare and IT was blocked off for one way directional flow for the fans seeking parking for the Braves game. Again, Satan laughed in his basso profundo voice and said, "You want to get to your hotel? There it is... the one you are passing! Bwahahahahahaha!"

A nice policeman near the intersection to the back side of the Turner Field parking lot showed us how to maneuver around some side streets working our way around to get to the front of the hotel from some unorthodox methods. Yeah! The hotel! Beth jumped out and checked us in while I sat behind the wheel looking intelligent. (STOP LAUGHING!! That is impolite!)

I got us backed into a parking slot in the parking deck and Beth and I hauled our gear upstairs to our room. The rooms were NOT sequentially numbered. It was like someone had pulled a prank on them and rearranged the numbers as a joke. We finally found the room and dumped our stuff. #417. ICE FREAKING COLD!! Some special "in-DUH-vidual" had turned the AC all the way down to 55 DEGREES!! 

For the record, neither Beth nor I are big fans of freezing our assets off!! Stomping across the room and whipping open the cover for the control panel, Beth turned the AC and heat unit completely off.

We looked at the time. The merciless clock indicated that we didn't have much room for anything besides a quick pit stop in the bathroom, an equally quick change into concert wear of jeans and boots and a brief respite from the trip over hill and dale and dusty trail to get to Atlanta.

NAPTIME! Sounded SOOOO good, but it wasn't part of the plan for me. Couldn't sleep... instead, I read while Beth napped. I was reading a hilarious book about a vet who was new to a practice in England and the pitfalls and troubles of getting used to his coworkers and the pets who were his clients. At one point, I had to literally put my face into the pillow to keep from guffawing too loudly while Beth slept.

The alarm sounded and it was time to find our way to Lakewood. The directions seemed straightforward. But they only SEEMED that way. Even Satan's minions were laughing now. Plainly put, "you cain't git thar from here!" Thankfully, a nice policeman in an "interesting" neighborhood got us back on the right road and headed toward Brad and the concert.

Beth got us into the parking lot fairly close to the action. That turned out to be a really GOOD thing since all the up and down and singing and dancing takes its toll on the old leggy bones. It's one thing to be full of spit and vinegar going INTO a concert and something entirely different when coming out virtually dead but after having had the time of your life. No one in their right mind wants to add a 3 mile hike to that feeling. Okay, mostly no one. I'm sure there are some people who find that "refreshing".

Some seriously cool guitar pickin' skills from Brad!

When the night got underway, it couldn't have been in a more idyllic setting. The Lakewood Amphitheater is tucked into some rolling hills and has a wonderful covered pavilion with a grassy slope behind which Brad referred to as "the cheap seats" during the latter portion of his set. The sound in the amphitheater was AMAZING! Often, sound is lost in an outdoor venue because it just isn't well thought out and the natural terrain eats it up. The people who prepared this location really and truly knew what they were doing. From the quiet of the gentle ballads and their haunting refrain to the full on in your face jams, the acoustics were perfect!

The only downer on the night (which was short-lived thanks to our hero, the big dude the row ahead of us) was the three rude people who kept standing up and blocking everyone's view. We found out that one of the rude persons was the wife of the drummer for Scotty McCreery. She should know better!! Her free VIP entry was paid for by every single person who bought tickets to the show and therefore she of all people should have been more respectful to the people behind her!!! 

Some of those old folks the row behind where Beth and I had been seated were not able to get up and down to see and that was not fair.

Finally, after a less than gentle invitation to "either sit down or I'm gonna mess you up!" by our Galahad of the stadium seat, the rude trio decided to move and we all applauded in seeing them leave. It's one thing to be up and singing and dancing when everyone does or to take photos, but to do so the full time when you have been asked nicely repeatedly and not so nicely a couple of times just shows a lack of character. By the way, here are their butts. You might want to see them just in case you can identify them when they stand in front of you at your next concert.

Scotty McCreery's set was fun. He has a nice voice and as his act is maturing on the road, it is evident that his talent is genuine and growing. He sang his current single on radio, a couple of songs from his first album and a couple that he was featured on American Idol singing for his big win.  Scotty has a Christmas album coming out this year. I think I'll have to check that out. After Scotty's set, The Band Perry came on stage to share their talents with us.

They sang "If I Die Young" and their video was playing on the jumbo-tron screens. They also sang "All Your Life", which is one of my favorites. As they belted out their rendition of Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" the crowd was on their feet singing along. It was just flat out fun!

Their song "You Lie" was a real treat, Kimberly was in rare form. Her voice is great anyway but there is just such a connection in a live concert!

As the last applause for their set died out, the lights dimmed and the crowd noise surged to jet engine decibel level. It was time for THE MAN!!

Brad gets better and better every time I've been privileged to see and hear him!

BRAD! BRAD! BRAD! 

He is funny, talented, amazing to see and hear and handsome... that easy on the eyes part is not to be underestimated! There were some really neat light show effects that were going on just before Brad came onstage. And when he did, the volume of the crowd was EVEN louder!

It was a fast paced run through his song "Camouflage" to open the set! LOVE that song! My favorite lines in the whole song are: 

We took pictures in the backyard  

Before we went to the dance  

And the only thing that you can see 

Is our faces and our hands
Camouflage, camouflage  

You should've seen the way it popped with her corsage Camouflage, camouflage 

Ain't nothing doesn't go with camouflage

The visual image in my mind of the smiling faces that Cheshire cat-like float above nothing crack me up! When Brad sang Celebrity later on, Scotty McCreery joined him on stage. One of the "tabloid headlines" in the graphics displayed on the jumbo-tron asked if Scotty were Brad's love child. It was a hoot!

Brad and his "love child" Scotty McCreery singing "Celebrity"

After a while of singing solo, Brad performed Whiskey Lullaby with Kimberly Perry. She did a fine job covering the part normally performed by Allison Kraus.

Later on, the music for "Remind Me" started up and I figured Kimberly would make another appearance. Nope. Carrie Underwood did the honors through a holographic imaging stint. Beth was screaming pretty loudly when her image came up. I have to admit, I was blow away (no pun intended for Carrie's new song!) and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.

During Brad's gentle crooning of "Then", I got a little choked up thinking about Thomas and Tianna having that as their first couple dance at their wedding reception. I had a quick conversation with the man in the row in front of us who dealt with the rude people and told him about how special that song was. We gave each other a high-five when he said his brother had just gotten married and that they'd used it for THEIR wedding, too.

I didn't want the night to end, but as with all good things, the end does come. We made our way through the crowd back to the truck and sat and talked for a bit while waiting for traffic to thin out. It was so hot and sticky that even with the windows down to take in some breeze, it was like sitting in a sauna fully clothed. The man and woman in the car next to us were having a few difficulties.

He swayed over to us and told us that he couldn't understand why people were mad at him for saying he was "Obama's brother" and expected special treatment. Idiot. 

Not only was he white... and I'm talking mayonnaise on white bread kind of white... but he was three sheets to the wind and climbing. 

His wife was not amused and she could have put a sailor under the table with her colorful language. Blistering! By far and away, she had her favorite swear word and she applied it as subject, verb, adjective, adverb and modifier all in one sentence. Had it not been so downright profane, I would have been impressed. As it was, it kinda made me sad because she seemed to be articulate under less booze soaked circumstances. She drove them away. I hope they made it home okay because although her husband was DEFINITELY too drunk to drive, she wasn't too many notches behind him on the breathalyzer test. I could smell it on them both, so unless she was wearing beer as a cologne, she'd had some, too.

By the time we got enough leeway to head for the gates to freedom from the parking lot, there weren't a lot of choices on something to eat. And NO, simply eating lunch doesn't make up for dinner. NOTHING was open. And I mean NOTHING. Laughingly, Beth said we should stop at a gas station and see what they had.

We didn't and by the time we got back to our hotel room, we both wished we had.

The nice man in the lobby at the hotel told us that vending machines were located on various floors. Nice. Vending machines are not well known for having actual food in them, nor are they advertised for their nutritional properties.

We dined that evening on pistachios, peanuts and animal crackers. We bought one of each and split them. Beth had a Coke to wash hers down and I chose a bottle of water.  MMM. Just like Mother used to make - in that way that I mean NOT.



Rummaging through the animal cracker bag, it was obvious that some were genetic throwbacks. They were animal PIECES. I tossed Beth a set of nicely proportioned animal buttocks. She was not amused and wanted to know why she got the retarded animals. I laughed and threw over what were, ostensibly, a set of lion ribs.

I did, however, give her a WHOLE owl. I have NEVER in my entire life seen an OWL in a bag of animal crackers!! I guess the Harry Potter influence has even entered the animal cracker arena. I gave all the owls to Beth because I couldn't bring myself to snack on Hedwig. Oh, dear!! Now SHE will think about that and perhaps have a delayed indigestion for having eaten Harry Potter's owl!

When all the hilarity of the fine "feast" was over, we went to bed. 

The two beds had not a single full sized pillow in the lot. Instead, they were festooned with a selection of tiny pillows, some of which were wearing decorative belts. Slicking the little belt off of one pillow, I tossed it over on Beth and asked her "What the heck is this little belt for?"

I never knew pillows had pants that needed holding up. The belt thingies were some sort of "accent" but they had this whacking big button on them that would have left a mark on your face while you slumbered that would have been unmistakable. People in church the next morning were sure to say "Look, they have pillow belt marks on their faces!"

Okay, so maybe no one would have said that, but I didn't plan on risking it and removed the little belts.

Sunday morning came and apparently in the night there had been some minor power outage. The room alarm clock was flashing wildly to indicate that we were late. Not just late, but REALLY late!

Hastily, I jumped into the shower and attempted to get ready for church. Beth got in next and we found a ward just off of I-20 in Douglasville that we could attend. 

Did you know that even on the church's official site, their GPS navigation was not correct??? 

Once again, the Devil was helpless with laughter and rolling all over the floor in his office as he watched us attempt to navigate to the ward building.

After we arrived, I knew why he didn't want us to attend. The lady who was their ward genealogy librarian was there concluding speaker and her talk was about RICK'S ANCESTORS in Logan, Utah at the temple there!!! HOLY FLAMING COW!! How truly small the world is when the church is part of that world!

Without breakfast to get us going, we stopped for lunch after church at our favorite spot, THE FIVE STAR, and grabbed some tasty subway sammiches. I'd put a Subway restaurant in my HOUSE if Rick would let me. That way, I could have something good, salad filled and tasty every single day. 

We got home to my place for Beth to drop me off. I drove us home while she did homework. When we got there, we discovered that Jared and Rick had stayed home because Jared was still under the weather. I kinda felt bad about that since Mom's are supposed to be there for that sort of thing, but Rick told me they'd been fine and not to worry about it.

Beth headed home to her place to continue the merry parade of homework and I did some indexing while waiting for Kari to pick me up for Stake Choir rehearsal.

All in all, the weekend was FABULOUS!! Tiring, but worth it!

The only bad thing for me was after getting home Sunday night after choir, I attempted to go to bed and instead had a panic attack requiring help from Rick and the priesthood.

I hate those things. They make me feel like I'm being squashed like a bug. And worse. It's hard to articulate just how awful they are. 

But for now... let us reflect on all the excitement, wonder and joy that represented this weekend...

BRAD!