Back to the Alvord

So the last two nights I returned to my college for musical entertainment. A little weird, being back with all these kids remembering how I thought I was such hot shit when I was their age, and it turns out that I'm just normal. But I remembered dancing with so many people in that little theater, it really hasn't changed, it's little indentation of a dance floor, the light grid that takes up the entire ceiling, now holding all of sick lights, that's it, six if you can believe that.
The first night was the Big Wu, a jam band from the Twin Cities that is on the other side of it's bell curve right now. Hopefully they will pull out of it, but for now I get to go see a pretty good band in the Alvord.
The weird thing about going to a show there is that I am now the old guy hanging out with a bunch of college kids. I am right on the edge of creepy, still in the okay, but in a couple of years or so it's going to get harder. I fought through this, (successfully), and was able to have a good time checking out these guys throw down some of their hits, danced a bit and saw some of my pals. Kriner was working sound and Olaf was there, so I was in good company. The guitar player went to Eau Claire instead of Ashland, so they started two hours late. They did a good version of Scarlett Begonias and had some nice moments, but things are darker on the other side of the Bell Curve.
Last night was Greg Brown. If you know him you love him. He came out dressed in a black fedora kind of hat, but was a little to small, a sports coat with a t-shirt and a tie. There was no collar for the tie, so it was just there. You could call the look rumpled. His songs and performance were anything but. This man takes his voice and turns it into a instrument that can remove you from were ever you are and take you to funerals for unliked neighbors, the entire life of a retired minor league baseball player, or get this, way into his mind and heart. In a word he is cool, something that men like me look up to and respect and I haven't met a woman that would drop everything in their world to run off with this man. Olaf recorded it, so I'm excited to get a copy. There were a bunch of people that I knew there, kind of like every event here, you stick around afterwords to talk to your friends and neighbors. Lately I have been getting to tell everyone that I'm buying a house and there are so many people that want to help, it's pretty nice.
That was two days here. Now it's Saturday, I better continue packing, I'm moving.