Tuesday was a big day.
Ty was flying in from Paris and the animals were finally being installed in their new home. It also happened to be the day Roger Clyne played the Minnesota Zoo.
At least half the members of the family are big Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers fans. I’d seen him a few times before but it’s been years; he plays the bar and clubs and usually doesn’t begin until after 10:00.
I’m way too old to stay up that late for loud music, no matter how hot the lead singer is.
But I am a fan, so months ago, when Ty told me they were playing the zoo, which happens to be my favorite venue in town, and that he was getting tickets, did I want one? I said “YES”.
I’ve been to many concerts at the zoo. It’s a small, intimate amphitheater overlooking a lake and woods. It’s really the perfect place to see music.
I’d kind of forgotten all about our plans. Ty bought four tickets, for him, Megan, me and Katie. It was going to be a blast!
Several miscalculations occurred.
The first was jet lag. Ty’s young and still thinks he can power through anything so the idea of flying out of Paris in the morning, spending eight hours in the air and landing (theoretically, at least) three hours later, then staying up all afternoon and partying at the zoo in the evening didn’t sound daunting at all.
Then he got lost driving home.
Josie followed him to his house to help Megan with the kids while she got the horses and pony set up in their new home. She said it took twice as long to get to his house than ever before because he took a weird turn and they got lost. She was unhappy about this waste of time.
Did I mention that when Megan returned from retrieving her animals, she discovered that they’d been burgled?
It could have been much worse; only their bedroom had been tossed and the burglars hadn’t even taken her good jewelry. They did steal the belt buckles she won in college, the little rats. And although they left Ty’s expensive bottle of scotch, they took Megan’s Crown Royal. The bastards. The police were on the scene quickly and thoroughly and said all indications were that they were looking for some low life amateurs.
I’m just grateful that they didn’t trash the house; one room was ransacked but at least stuff wasn’t smashed and broken. It could have been much worse.
Dealing with the break in did take up a large chunk of the day. It also left a very creeped out feel in the air. Locks have already been changed and dogs set free upon the land. Any asshat tries this again, they’ll have Jimmer and Rowdy to deal with. Not to mention Ettie, who will freak them out with her total freakiness.
Jimmer and Rowdy are experts at dispatching coyotes.
While dealing with all of this unexpected drama, the babysitting fell through. Both plans A and B were rendered moot early in the afternoon. Not being involved in filing police reports, it fell to me to try to find someone who could watch Babydoll and Babalouie while we went to the show.
Because when your house is burgled, the first thing you want to do is dump the kids and go out dancing, right?
You can’t get a babysitter on four hours notice. Everyone I called had to work past the time the show at the zoo started. I worked my way down the list of Aunts, uncles and cousins till I found a cousin who was happy to do it as long as Megan and Ty were okay with the fact that she had strep throat.
“I’ve been on penicillin for 48 hours, I’m pretty sure I’m not contagious.” She told me.
“I always heard after 24 hours on medication, it was safe.” I agreed. “but I’m not sure Megan is as sanguine about strep as I am.”
We had about six years around here where someone had strep all winter long. From September to May, it just bounced from one kid to another then back. We later found out that Katie is a carrier. The doctor said that the next time she got sick, the best thing would be to remove her tonsils. Naturally, she never got strep throat again.
“I have to work at 5:00 a.m.,” She further stipulated. “you’d have to be home by ten.”
I’d never been to a concert at the zoo that went much later than that, so I didn’t think time would be a problem.
I called Megan and told her the scoop and she admitted that she really wasn’t up for a concert. The break-in had taken up so much of her time that she still hadn’t gotten the horses and pony set up, she didn’t feel like going out and she really didn’t love the idea of bringing a strep throat sufferer into the house. She just wanted to finish building her pony’s pen, curl up with the kids and go to bed early.
Tyler didn’t fancy a concert without the wife he had missed through eight days in Paris.
Things were falling apart.
But Katie and I still wanted to go. That’s when we realized that the tickets were at will call and under Ty’s name. I called the zoo and asked if I could pick up the tix.
“Sure lady,” the very nice person on the phone told me, “We always give the tickets people buy away to chicks who claim to be their moms.”
Okay, he didn’t say that at all but that’s what he meant. I have to admit, he had a point. So I called Ty. “You have to call and transfer the tickets to me or Katie.” I told him. “The stupid zoo won’t let me just steal your tickets.”
So he called the zoo.
I was trying to get some work done before Katie arrived when Ty called again.
“We’ve got four tickets.” He said. “Do you think you can find anyone else who might want to go?”
First I called McCollows, who have traveled to Mexico on more than one occasion just to see Rog.
They were already on their way to the zoo to tailgate before the concert. My brother Bill was with them. He would have been my next call. His wife Jen wasn’t with them so I called her but she didn’t answer. Then I called MJ, who once spent an entire concert perched on the amp, sharing a beer and a smoke with the lead guitarist. She was too pregnant and too tired and had too many kids.
Then I called Andy but he and Vi were on their way out the door to someone’s soccer game so I called Joe and Heidi. The last time I was at a concert with Heidi, she freaked out the guitarist by fondling his leg. I want to rock with Heidi again!
They were on their way out the door to Vince’s baseball game.
Everyone was busy.
Katie arrived, we ate some dinner and headed out to the zoo.
The day had been warm and sunny but somewhere during the afternoon, it got cloudy. We felt a bit of rain as we walked across the parking lot. Not much; just a bit.
At the will call window, the young man asked if we were related to Tom and Kelly Pivec. We assured him we were and he told us he’d been in Lizzie and Kyle’s wedding last summer!
He handed us our four tickets and we headed down the walk toward the amphitheater.
Just as we reached the ticket takers, Katie saw a gal standing off to the side, rifling through her purse, nearly in tears.
“I don’t know what could have happened...” she said to no one in particular, “I had them ten minutes ago!”
She had clearly lost her ticket. Her friends were already inside and there she was, turning her purse inside out and getting more frantic by the moment.
“Mom,” Katie said. “We have extras.”
“Do you need a ticket?” I asked her.
“I had mine when I came in,” she said, “I don’t know what happened!”
“I don’t even care if you jumped the fence.” I told her. “It’s just going to waste.”
“Really?” she stared at me, nearly dumbstruck. “Really?”
“Take it.” I offered it to her.
“O my God!” she took the ticket, gave me a big hug and ran to join her friends.
I showed an usher my ticket and she pointed inside saying “Row A is down front.”
My seat was basically Roger Clyne’s lap.
Okay, not his lap but definitely at his feet.
Katie and I couldn’t believe our good fortune as we paraded right through the crowd and planted ourselves smack in front of the band.
My sister Katie saw us from her seat way back up high with the hoi polloi, turned to her husband, brother and friends and said “so long suckers!”
Two minutes later she was sitting in Megan’s empty seat.
We danced, bounced and sang along for the next hour.
Each of us made meaningful eye contact with the lead singer, our good friend, Roger Clyne, throughout the show. During the last song, the lead guitarist stepped over his amp to play his solo for us alone.
We would have reacted differently if we hadn’t been three happily married ladies.
Or if it had been Roger himself who came over to serenade us personally.
I had no desire to play the man’s guitar. But it was fun!
As the opening act, the Peacemakers only played for an hour. It was a killer hour but flew by too fast. When they said goodby, enjoy Los Lonely Boys and departed the stage, the two Katie’s and I looked at each other and said “We don’t need no stinkin’ Los Lonely Boys. We saw what we came for, let’s go.”
So we did. I was home by 9:00.
This morning, I called Ty and said “Our tickets were practically on stage!!”
He replied sadly, “I know.”
Hey, don’t cry for him, Argentina; he just spent eight days in Paris.