This weekend was one of those I'll remember for awhile. It started on Friday evening right after I worked my first birthday party dressed as a pirate (see July 31 post). At the invitation of my sister-in-law I went to a small restaurant about 1/2 a mile from my house for dinner and karaoke. "Mama Helen's" has been advertising karaoke on Fridays from 5-8PM for a couple of months. I really enjoy singing karaoke and have intended to go but never had.
The restaurant is very small only comfortably seating about 2 dozen or so customers at a time. Most of the people I know who have gone there, including my sister-in-law, like the place and are repeat customers.
The Karaoke DJ was not the most impressive one I've ever seen or heard. He was an older man with whose singing voice and musical timing was not the greatest. He had a standard karaoke PA set up with speakers, microphones, and a monitor. His music was stored on a notebook computer and a portable hard drive. He told me he had 90,000 songs in his library. Despite his voice lacking the sophistication or talent to be very entertaining or enjoyable he was there and so was I.
I was there to be a participant not be an spectator. There were only about a dozen people there but no one was even attempting to sing. So I got up and sang. My voice was a little strained from talking like a pirate for an hour earlier in the day so my singing was not very good at first either.
We ordered our dinner and it took a while to get there. By the time the spare ribs were brought to our table I had done 4 songs.
Dinner was pretty good and the mac & cheese I ordered with the intentions of "just nibbling" turned up half gone by the time I was finished. With the pies & cakes displayed in the dessert case calling my name I knew it was time to leave.
I had already sang songs like "Daddy Money", "Check Yes or No", and "Mountain of Love". I finished up by singing "Mack The Knife". That's been my signature song ever since I started going to karaoke nights back in the mid 90's. I sang it with confidence and familiarity. I got a bit of reaction from the crowd while I was singing and when I finished. It was a satisfying finish to a return to Karaoke. It was only the 2nd time I'd been to a "karaoke night" since I have lived in Kentucky.
The next memorable event of the weekend happened the next night, Saturday, at a local theater that has live performances. The Capitol Arts theater hosted an Elvis Presley tribute starring Ronnie McDowell.
He's the singer who had a hit with the tribute song "The King Is Gone" back in 1977 shortly after Presley died. Also on the was a few people who had worked with Elvis in both the recording studio and his Vegas night club act. There was the bass singer from the Jordaniers, the woman who sang really high back round vocals on songs like Blue Christmas and a couple other Elvis songs. Both of them were very entertaining and could still sing despite being well into their 80's.
The guest performer I was most impressed by was the Rock & Roll hall of fame drummer DJ Fontana. He's played on hundreds of million selling hits. He only played on a couple of songs but it was cool. Mcdowell's oldest son played the drums on most of the songs they performed.
The 90 minute plus show consisted of McDowell singing some of his favorite Elvis hits accompanied by his guests. They also told stories about their experience with "The King". There was also a bit of audience participation when McDowell had a local state senator sing "Are You Lonesome Tonight" to his wife. I really enjoyed the show but left a bit disappointed.
Ronnie McDowell did not sing "The King Is Gone". That's why he's famous. It's his mainstream claim to fame. It's like going to see Chubby Checker in concert and he doesn't sing "The Twist.". Nevertheless the show was a lot of fun. I enjoyed seeing some rock & roll's pioneers in person.
The 3rd and best activity of the weekend happened on Sunday. About a week ago I was given some free tickets to the August 1st Cincinnati Reds vs. Atlanta Braves game in Cincinnati. I was so excited to get "free" tickets that I took the day off from work to go. I asked a couple of friends to go with me but both of them had other commitments and couldn't go. So I decided to go by myself.
On Sunday morning I took my time getting ready and planned to leave at about 8:30. The 4 hour drive to the ballpark would get me there about 12:30 just in time to be in my seat by game time, 1:10PM. I forgot one thing. Cincinnati is on eastern time and is an hour ahead. I knew that but just forgot about it. I remembered about 7:56AM just before going to take my shower.
So when I left the house I was running a bit late. Well I put the pedal to the metal and made only a couple of necessary stops on the way. I arrived at the gate of Great American Ballpark at 12:30 eastern time. That was the quickest trip I've ever made to Cincinnati.
I parked in a lot next to the Bengals stadium and made the 1/2 mile walk to the ballpark. It was a lot of fun seeing the people walking from various avenues toward the front gates. The reason I parked so far away was because I knew I could walk a little and save some money on parking. I remember a time when I couldn't walk anywhere near that distance. I try to take advantage of the pleasure of the journey whenever I can.
My seat was in section 521 in the upper deck behind home plate in the middle of row "I". This meant a little hike up the stairs and ramps inside the stadium. But, once again, I wasn't taking the elevator. I can walk now.
The view farther away than when I was there in April. But it was also an entirely different area of the stadium and there were lots of things I hadn't seen before.
Once again for the 2nd time in a month, I found myself sitting at a baseball game in the sun on a very hot sunny summer's day. Before the game I got something to eat and later bought a couple of drinks from the walk around stadium vendors.
The place was crowded. There were 40, 870 people and me there to see the last game of the 3 game series. I enjoyed the game (a 2-1 Reds victory) and my view of nearly the entire field helped me see all the action of the play that scored the tying and wining runs for the Reds.
I left right after the game despite there being a free gospel music concert by the group, Mercy Me. I was tired, sweaty, a bit sunburned, and thirsty. I wanted to get back to the car and go buy a drink that cost less than $5. I did some souvenir shopping, walked to my car, and drove home.
I took my time on the drive back but still got home before it was dark. It was a wonderful afternoon and a great weekend. The 3 events that helped make it what it was will be something I'll be thinking about for a long time. It was a great way to transition from July to August.
This weekend just adds to the adventures I've had so far this summer. With all the places I've gone and things I've done I have decided to dub 2010 the year of the road trip. Now I've got a little more than a month before our trek to Disney World for my birthday trip. Those 6 days will bring a wonderful ending to a terrific year of adventurous journeys.
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