Last night I went home and anxiously awaited the arrival of my laptop bag from the UPS man, and even more anxiously awaited the Dolly Parton Concert.
The UPS man never showed up… well at leat not before I left at 6. Apparently the jerk showed up at 6:56 and the office was already closed, so he didn’t leave my package. RUDE! So tonight I will have to wait at home for him again.
I called Xoch when I got home to make plans for the night. We decided to meet up at 6:30 to have dinner and drinks. I went to pick her up and we went Serranos. We ordered Bloody Mary’s and Mr. Grumpy Bartender was all moody and jerkish, which just set Xoch off. Oh, and the instant we walked into the restaurant we (she said it was mostly me) were being gawked at by everyone in there. I think it mostly had to do with me being the 6 foot guy with cowboy hat and rhinestone hat band, wearing the loud retro western shirt. Even later on at the concert it was non-stop gawking.
We ordered our food, Xoch ordered beans and WHITE rice. Did she get white rice? No. They brough Mexican rice. Xoch got pissy and asked them to take it back and bring white rice. The waitress left and came back to notify Xoch that they did not have any white rice. Ok? Isn’t the MAIN ingredient in Mexican rice, WHITE RICE? Yeah, so Xoch pretty much got that they just didn’t want to make white rice for her, so she was pissed.
After dinner we walked to the arena, once we got there we notice it was full of the homos. They were everywhere. It was like being out at the club. I saw familiar faces everywhere I turned.
We ran into an old coworker. We were walking by and she screamed out my name. Xoch recognized her immediately, but she didn’t remember Xoch’s name, so she yelled out mine instead. I didn’t recognize her at all. I walked towards her panicking, thinking, “Oh, is she someone Xoch knows? No, I think I know her. Oh crap, who is that?”
When she started talking I was sure that I knew her, I just had no idea from where or what her name was. It took me a while to figure it out. Her name is Melinda, and she was my favorite salesperson when I worked at Aus-Tex Printing and mailing. It was nice catching up with her. She thought it was odd that Xoch and I were still friends after all these years.
When we got there the opening band was just finished up. They had one song left, and they had only played for 20 minutes. Xoch and I walked around trying to find all of my friends that were also at the concert.
Kirby came out looking for me (yay for me!) and we happened to run into each other. He’s so freaking cute.
I didn’t get to talk to Steve in person because he was on the arena floor, fourth row from the stage. They don’t let just everyone walk down there. I did talk to him on the cell, we could see each other from our seat. I was behind him about 40 rows back. Sadness.
I don’t know how I got such lame seats. Ok, they weren’t that bad, but seriously… I should have been MUCH closer seeing as how I bought my tickets 1 minute after they went on sale.
Kirby was one row behind me, and two sections over. I could see him way more clearly than I could see Dolly.
Oh, so we were sitting on old people row. There was one larger sized lady that would not even get up when we tried to walk by (which we did three times). My poor leg kept getting wedged between her leg and the chairs in front. I could not get by her! I mean seriously, could she not stand up to let us by? Ugh… she was pissing me off.
Anyways… on to the concert. Dolly voice is freaking AMAZING. I was stunned by the power and clearness of her voice. It was by far the most impressive concert ever. However, Cher puts on a more entertaining, and visually appealing show.
Dolly was so clear and so amazing. I just can’t say that enough. When she was singing Little Sparrow acapella, it gave me the chills. It was a moving experience.
She sang the hell out of I Will Always Love you. I honestly think Dolly could nail that song better than Whitney… singing Whitney’s version. I would never have previously thought that.
Her set list was a little different than what I had read on the web. She didn’t sing Islands in the stream, which was super disappointing for me.
Her cover of John Lennon’s Imagine was also very powerful and moving. The only song that I didn’t much enjoy was Baby, It’s cold outside.
She told a lot of jokes, and made fun of herself and her boobs. She was actually pretty darn funny, and doesn’t seem to take herself too serious.
She was saying about how she didn’t want to do a bunch of outfit changes because it would mean leaving the stage, so she said she’s be changing on stage instead. Then she said, “Oh but don’t worry, this won’t be like the Superbowl Half Time Show… shoot… if I pulled a Janet Jackson, I’d take out the left side of this audience.”
I’m still blown away by how great she sounded. I’ve never heard someone sound so amazing live… especially in the Erwin Center. Usually, you only know the words they are singing because you already know the songs, but Dolly was EXTREMELY crisp and clear.
She cracked me up with how shameless she is about wanting some money and trying to promote DollyWood and sell her CDs.
I was a little surprised at how tame the audience was. I’ve rarely seen an audience sit through and entire concert. VERY ODD.
When she first came out on stage I noticed her shoes, from that point on I was obsessed with seeing them. I kept wanting the camera man to pan down to show them, but no… he wouldn’t do it.
Finally she sat on the piano and I got a glimpse of them. How does she walk in shoes that high? I mean, I know most women can do it just fine, but most women don’t have those enormous counter weights pulling them foward. She must have some awesome balance.
Anyways… I’ve been writing this forever, so I’m going to close out now. The concert was awesome. I had a great time. I was super excited to see Kirby and I’m happy!
