rock show

i love going to see live music-
let’s see…
who have i seen live

U2
the black crowes
norah jones
al green
hall and oates!
k.d. lang
simon and garfunkel
oasis
brian setzer
no doubt
inxs
(at one of michael hutchence’s last shows!)

as well as some pretty lame bands:
starship?
o-town?
pink- when she was still all hip-hop

i've seen bands at:
the mountain winery
the colliseum
the warfield
the arena
hp pavilion
and the san jose civic auditorium!
where i saw...

elmo!

today deanna and i took janie to her first show
sesame street live
featuring elmo.

it was kind of like a rock show
there were crowds
there was some pretty expensive merchandise for sale
plenty of fans wearing t-shirts of their favorite artist
(elmo)
there was screaming, singing
and people reaching out to touch the “band.”
there was a pretty cool light show.
there was even a few mohawks.
there was even a little toddler mosh-pit
or dance circle.
it was pretty cute.

i’ve seen amazing stages
i’ve heard face-melting guitar solos
i’ve seen crowds join together in unity behind a band-
but seeing my little girl light up
at seeing elmo, cookie monster and big bird
takes the cake.

i looked around at all of the kids and parents.
i saw some pretty cool parents.
some had tattoos
some had punk hair-dos.
but they all had diaper bags.
and were all just as excited as their kids.
i thought to myself-
"look at us! we used to be cool!
but we have been tamed
by adulthood and children."

but when those old school sesame street songs came on-
it was the adults who sang the loudest.
and when those characters came out-
the adults went wild.
and in my head i took it back-
"we haven’t been tamed!
we’re still rockers!
we just got older."