Blues and Comedy

It’s Sunday morning.  John and I are trying to plan our day so that we can do the things that need to get done and still have time to enjoy the day before we start wishing we didn’t have to go to work tomorrow.  He’s looking at his homework, and I’m enjoying the contrast between my bright and sunny yellow flowers and vase (a birthday present from John’s family) and the snow falling outside the window behind them.

Friday night, we met Joe and Megan, Lloyd and Maggie, and Eric and Robin at Constitution Hall in DC to see Buddy Guy and B.B. King.  It was a really cool show.  Buddy Guy has SO much energy.  The crowd was completely with him (people were yelling, singing along) and he was doing all kinds of cool things.  He’d play guitar solos with just his right hand.  With his left hand, he’d lean on a speaker, or drink beer, or just gesture to someone.  It was cool.  Then he left the stage.  During a song.  With his guitar.  He headed to the side and before we knew it, he had waded out into the crowd on the floor.  While playing.  Everyone was on their feet, crowding around him.  You could barely make him out, but you could hear him just fine.  So he wandered around the hall for a while, hanging out with people, hugging them, giving them high fives, and PLAYING the whole time.  Then he disappeared.  He was still playing, the band was still going, but he was in the lobby?  backstage?  whatever.  He was heading back to the stage, where he eventually reappeared.  Every once in a while, he’d stop the band, say something funny, and then go back to a song.  And he’d talk over the band and himself.  He was really funny, and if we go too loud, he’d tell us to shush.  You know, so we could hear him better.  🙂  He had more energy than we did (long day), and he’s 73!  He doesn’t look it.  He ended his set by playing parts of (and imitating) Clapton songs, John Lee Hooker, Hendrix, Albert King, and a couple of others.  It was a great show.

After intermission, B.B. King’s band came out.  There were at least 8 people on stage, but no B.B.  Four guys in the horn section, a guitarist, a drummer, a guy on keyboards (he had at least four keyboards), and a bassist.  They played two songs while the rest of us are trying to figure out where B.B. King was.  Finally, someone brought out a chair and out he came.  The crowd went nuts.  And then he proceeded to tell us stories.  Long, rambling, mostly nonsensical stories.  The band vamped behind him, and he occasionally interrupted himself to tell the drummer, “Don’t rush me, youngster.”  The keyboardist would laugh at something he said, and B.B. would say over his shoulder, “I’ll cut you.  Don’t you laugh, I’ll cut you.”  It was funny and good-natured, but we didn’t have a clue what his stories were supposed to be about.  I think they were supposed to be segues into the first line of the next song, but they rarely made sense.  It was still entertaining, but we think he talked more than he played.  When he did play, it was awesome, and his voice is incredible, powerful, but he’s 83 and it’s starting to show, I think.  Most of us had more fun with Buddy Guy.

Last night we went to the Barns at Wolf Trap with Christina and Will to see the Second City National Touring Company.  There were six cast members, and they did sketch comedy and improv.  I love that stuff, and they were really funny.  I’m not going to try to describe any of the sketches, but there are at least two I’m still laughing about today.  We had a good time, and I’ve had a good birthday weekend.  🙂

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