THE CONCERT

At some point in life people sit back and wonder how they got there. Life gets so fast.. family.. kids.. work.. we stumble through sometimes taking the path of least resistance and sometimes taking a path that is more determined and focused.

The early years are easy… its like floating and as the musical group Kansas says “Dust in the wind” we are blown in different directions and sometime that path taken and sometimes it gets abandoned for a more secure or pleasant path.

They say that submarines cannot detect other sub’s until they slow down and listen. That happened to Kevin recently, he stopped running forward long enough to take a look at where is came from. He was questioning why he felt different ways about topics. Some feeling were strong and unmovable while others he could go either way. He was smart enough to know that who he is today is an accumulation of all his experiences but how did he get to that point in his life.

 What Kevin found out was surprising even to himself. Kevin left home a 18 to make his mark in the world. Problem was he was madly in love with my high school sweet heart. Within 6 months he found for her it was puppy love.. for me it was a train wreck. Broken hearted he was forced to stand on my own two feet, Think for myself and dare I say, Grow up.

Music came alive for the first time. One guy in the barracks would play Queen's Champion of the world every morning at 6am. I guess he decided that the rest of the guys needed that motivation each morning. Kevin learned to hate that song and still gets his blood pressure up even today when he hears it. Kevin's Met Dave the during the first days of basic training and quickly became best friends. Dave was all about music and that would impact Kevin soon enough. The two would sit and listen to hard rocker like Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, Foreigner and the band that ended up being Kevin's all time favorite Styx.

Dave's love of music altered Kevin's path in dramatic ways. Styx was coming to town and Kevin had never gone to a concert. Coming from a small town where most of the kids just went to the park and played basketball or racquetball going to a concert made Kevin nervous. Up to take point the impact music on Kevin was minor to say the least. He liked some oldies and some new stuff. After signing up for the Army to work on Radars  his father was telling him he needed to go change the job he chose.

“ Son your not smart enough to work on Radars, If I were you I would take auto mechanics. There will always be cars and they when they break you will be there to rack in the money” His father told Kevin during one of the few discussion they ever had.

“But I don’t like working on cars” Replied Kevin.

“What do you know? You have not lived long enough to even know what you want”

Now that got under Kevin’s skin. How dare him say stuff like that. Kevin lashed out with only quote he know.

“You can’t even run your own life, I be damned if you run mine”  

It surprised Kevin that he pulled that quote from a song. It was the start of knowing how music will direct your thoughts.

When Kevin and Dave left for the concert Dave was saying how many concerts he had been to and not to worry. It was going to be great fun

"You will love it" said Dave.

As  the two guys left the car they were giggling like little kids. The Concert is going to be a blast Though Kevin as they started heading for the building.

Kevin was amazed at the number of people headed into the building. They seemed to come from all walks of life. He always liked to people watch and coming to a concert was like going to a buffet line. Lots of choices to watch. He saw people wearing clothes from torn jeans to dockers. They all seemed excited and there was a electric feel in the air. He had to wonder if when the flower children of the 60’s talked about the aura about them this is what they were referring to.  He had seen movies where “hippies” would talk about the vibes someone was putting out or “why are you so negative man”. All the people migrating toward the door seemed to radiate their emotionally or spiritually aura  that Kevin found fascinating.

About that time Dave poked Kevin and said

“Come on dude we need to get in here”

“What’s the rush the concert don’t start for over an hour” Kevin replied.

“Don’t you want to get a good spot in the mash pit?”

Showing his ignorance about concerts Kevin replied “What’s a mash pit”

“That is where all the action is. You try to get as close to the stage a possible. I have seen drummer throw their drum stick or the guitarist tosses a pic. Some bands even throw some of there clothes. Come on quit day dreaming and lets get in there”

Inside it was complete mayhem. Trying to fight our way toward the front of the of the mash pit was a challenge to say the least. By the time we got to a good spot his feet were killing him from getting stepped on. Sometime is seemed like a worm hole opened up in the crowd. Within seconds people would back up opening a huge hole in the crowd. Looking closer it was innocent people trying to get out of the way of two guys fighting. All Kevin could think was one guy must have stepped on the other guys  foot. With that thought Kevin gave a quick giggle before getting back to concentrating on moving forward.

After a while the warmup band preformed and the guy next to Kevin told him.

“Pay attention to this band. They are good and someday they will be the headline group and you can say you saw them when they were just a backup for a big name band” the stranger said.

Kevin took a mental note and went back to enjoying the band. Suddenly everything went to total darkness. It freaked Kevin out at first and the crowd was dead silent. Just then low back ground lights came on and smoke started to roll across the stage. “This must be the start of the main event” thought Kevin. The headline band Styx then burst on to the stage playing one of there top songs “Crystal ball”. In a split second the crowd went from dead silent to a defining roar!!

Kevin got caught up in all the excitement and was waving his arms and bouncing around just like everyone in the “Pit”. But he was also listening to the lyrics. Through all the noise and music he could only catch part of the song.

I used to like to walk the straight and narrow line
I used to think that everything was fine
Sometimes I'd like to sit and gaze for days through sleepless dreams

I wonder what tomorrow has in mind for me
Blah BLAH Blah…
Perhaps I'll get a chance to look ahead and see
Soon as I find myself a crystal ball

Tell me, tell me where I'm going
I don't know where I've been
Blah BLAH Blah…
And then tell me again

My heart is breaking, my body's aching
And I don't know where to go
Blah BLAH Blah..
I've just got to know

WOW!!! This song spoke right to the core of his soul. Since he left home and his girl friend dumped him is was lost.  He always did do what he through was right, His heart was aching, if only he knew what was next. He did not know who he was anymore and want desperately to find his grounding again.

As the two left the concert Kevin thought about how much fun that was and could not wait for the next concert. Later he would see bands like Bad Company, Aero-Smith, Alice Cooper and much more. All he knew he was having the time of his life!