Jon, Part II

Part II - Dance of the Jon
Jon Anderson/Paul Green School of Rock
Friday February 16, 2007
The Ridgefield Playhouse
Ridgefield, CT
Section Right, Row A, Seat 6
$57.50 (including all charges)

I get worried when I'm running late. I pad my travel estimates to give me plenty of time. Roy and I had to drive from Philly to Ridgefield, CT with a stopover in New Jersey to visit some friends for lunch. Google maps said it would only take 2.5 hours, but it included going through the north tip of Manhattan on a Friday. If we left anytime in the afternoon, we would hit rush hour. If it had been up to me, we would have had lunch at 11 and left by noon.

My dear friends Debbie and Susan didn't think like that. I hadn't seen Susan in a couple of years, and I had never met either of their new babies. Susan would pick her oldest up from nursery school and be back just before noon. We'd have lunch then and visit afterwards. It would still give us 5 hours to get there. It was great to see them, they had been my best friends since birth, and we can still pick up our relationship like sisters. Well, they really are sisters and I'm practically one. I have most in common with Debbie's husband Buzz, and we talked politics until I pulled myself away to hang out with the girls.

We left around 2:30. Susan lives right off the NJ turnpike, so it wasn't out of our way at all. We did have 5 hours, afterall, so I should stop worrying. Anyone who went to the show knows what happened - the traffic was beyond awful. The "express" lanes of the turnpike were down to one lane. We finally stopped at a gas station once we got to upstate NY so Roy could take a break. Dinner was out of the question, but he grabbed some food at the convenience store and we ate in the car. We got into town at 7:30, ran into the B&B to check in, circled around to find the venue, and got to our seats maybe ten minutes before the concert start time. Roy bought some popcorn, for the second part of our dinner.

We found to our delight that we were sitting two seats away from Krista! I didn't know anyone who would be there, so this was a nice bonus. We also found that Jon was stuck in the same traffic, and had not arrived yet. That could have been us. The other musicians and organizers must have been freaking out. I was just trying to calm down after our travel ordeal.

The concert did start relatively on-time. Paul Green, the organizer, came onstage and explained the situation. The setlist was rearranged (as truth is gathered). All the non-Jon songs were performed first. They also threw in a cover of Led Zeppelin's Travelling Riverside Blues - the lemon song. Bit strange hearing a woman sing those lyrics. There was an intermission until Jon was there and ready. All in all, I thought they did a good job handling a tough situation. This turned out better than holding off the show until he arrived.

The Jon songs were pretty much the same as the night before. From our seats this time, we could see the keyboard players better, but couldn't see anyone on stage right standing back a bit. I can't even remember which show I liked better now. The security guard was even getting into it.

After the show, we talked to the security guard a bit, and he told us where the band exit door was. Quite a few people waiting to meet Jon. We were out there for a while when Jon came out.

Ladies, the magic words are, "It is so good to see you with a band again."

I said that to Jon and he moved closer to me. I thought he was trying to hear me better. But no, he leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek!! OK, it was just an air kiss, but I could feel his beard brush against my cheek. Very intimate.

He shook Roy's hand and told us that "Yesterday was a good show." What did that mean? Was he not happy with that night's performance? or the travel situation? Or just acknowledging that we had been at both?

He shook a lot of hands and walked through the crowd. We walked back to our rental car. Jon's van rode by and beeped at us. We waved as Jon drove past. Afterwards, Roy and I found a pizza place that was still open and had dinner part three. (I am tactfully leaving out the dumpster diving incident.)

Next day, we drove back to Philly and still had problems on the damn turnpike. The snow had cleared up enough so that Angela was able to get around. She drove down to our hotel and we caught up for a while and then joined up with Linda for dinner. I relayed my Jon stories to Angela - life is still like high school where I had a crush on a singer and get so happy from any little bit of attention. In high school, the crush was all-encompassing and probably kept me from some real relationships. Now I have my wonderful husband who also loves Jon and patiently listened to my gushing.