Twister Relief Concert and weekend update

The concert was amazing.

I am not a huge fan of country music but went through a phase in the 90's where I listened to it all the time.  Most of the artists there and/or the songs they played were all old enough that I knew them.  I got to hear some of my old favorites live!!  The trip was worth it just to see Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.  The only bad thing is they played at 4 because they had to get to Vegas for a show that night and they only played like 6 songs and the sound wasn't the best quality at that time of day.  I am not complaining though.

I have heard there were about 70,000 people there.

Garth Video

My sister took this one, it gives an idea of how big the crowd was

Garth crowd

Friends in Low Places

I do love me some Garth. 

Willie Nelson is so freaking old he could hardly keep up with his own band (or it might have been Toby Keith's band).  He is still awesome though.  He did Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground which is one of the first songs I heard after Dexter died.  I cried.  Seeing Willie was a little overwhelming too so that didn't help either.  TK came out with some other people and they sang some old gospel songs, that too was beyond words. 

There were lots of other artists that played, most of them were from Oklahoma, which was cool.  One of the exceptions was Sammy Hagar

Red Rocker

Carrie Underwood was in Nashville but did a satellite feed.  She has a great voice but I am not sure why they even bothered.  I could have sat at home and watched her on TV.  It did give them time to set up for the final performance by Toby Keith and everyone was hot and tired so that was a good thing. 

I didn't think I was a big TK fan but he was great.  I would totally go see him play a full set.  I know a lot more of his songs than I thought I did.  I always thought he was a crazy redneck asshole but the man knows how to sing.  He also won me over by the support he showed his hometown and just the trouble he went to organizing the entire event.  He could very easily have just donated $1 million dollars and went on but he went above and beyond.  I am now a fan.  He also reminds me of my BIL who is really tall and big, stays about half drunk and always has tan lines around his eyes from sunglasses.  Here are a few of the videos from TK


Red Solo Cup how can you not like this song.  My mom had never heard it before.  I have no idea how that is possible.

one of my favorite songs of all times  I was so glad he played this one!!

We had been outside for about 8 hours, most of that time in the sun and my mom wasn't looking too healthy, so we left a little early.  I am scared of fireworks and there was a huge fireworks show so we told her I wanted to leave before they started so she wouldn't feel bad.  As we got about halfway around the stadium the fireworks started RIGHT BESIDE ME.  I almost ran to the car.  They were so damn loud. 

In retrospect, I kind of wish I would have went by myself.  My mom complained that the seats were too far away.  Granted, I usually have a knack for getting good seats but this time we were just lucky to be there.  My little sister complained about the heat and the crowd and just about everything in between.  When we got in the car she bitched about how loud it was.  I told her that if she thought that was loud it should probably be the last concert she goes to.  Then she started to bitch about how bad Willie Nelson sounded....he is 80 years freaking old!!.  Once we started home she was getting car sick and said she might throw up in my car.  I informed her the rule is, you puke in it, you get it detailed.  The food situation was aggravating too.  My sister has been logging what she eats and her weight everyday, she swears that she can tell from doing this what causes her to gain weight.  We were going to stop in Moore to eat lunch but the road construction made it difficult.  I got off at an exit and said this is it, we need to find something here because traffic is about to get unreal.  All we could find was a Mexican place and my sister refused to eat there because it makes her gain weight.  I kind of went off and told her that we were only going to eat lunch there she didn't have to eat it every day for a month.  I ended up peeling out of the parking lot.  We ended up at Red Robin and she ate a bacon cheeseburger!!   I really wanted to punch her in the throat.  One the way back my mom wanted to stop and get something to eat but my sister didn't want to.  We stopping at a convenience store and my sister got a freaking candy bar.  I think it goes without saying that I need some space from her for awhile.  Don't get me wrong, I had a great time and didn't let them get to me at the time, but I will think twice before I do something like this with them again. 

I was really proud of my mom though, she walked to the stadium and back without having to sit down and rest and she stayed out in the sun all day and held up like a champ. The news said that over 30 people were hospitalized for heat related illness from the event but she hung in there.  I was worried about her but she said she would do it again tomorrow.  Way to go mom.  Her having to walk as much as we did really made me realize how old and out of shape she is though.  Really sad to see.

I could write pages about that night but I will spare you the rest of the details. 

Thursday, on top of the fireworks, we had a storm with pea sized hail.  We put Marcy in her thunder shirt and she did pretty good.  We will use it a lot more.  We saw Lone Ranger (funny but lllloooooonnng) and ate dinner with the in-laws and the royal family and were still home by 9 to be with the dogs during the loudest of the fireworks..  So it was a busy day.  Saturday was the concert of the century and it took me all day Sunday to recuperate, my old ass hasn't seen that side of 2am in years.  Today was my first furlough day and I spent it at the wave pool.

It was surprisingly not busy.  I bought a book, like a regular paper book and sat and read.  I was out there about 2 hours and my legs are starting to get some color.  Not sure how I made it through the weekend without a sunburn!!

Tomorrow it is back to work.  So don't wanna but since it is the Colonel's last week I really only have 2 full days of work this week.  I think I can handle that.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!!