Carrie Underwood in Roanoke

   

It is now official.  I am too old to go to concerts.  I am whining about the Roanoke Civic Center until I am boring even myself.  The seats were lumpy and uncomfortable.  There was no leg room.  Worse than the most crowded of airline seats with the added attraction of possibly tumbling down a very steep hill and killing those below you and, more than likely, yourself.   The worst part is it is enclosed and small (7000+ seats) and the sound systems were likely geared for larger arenas so that you almost lose your hearing.  So I take ear plugs and the sound is muffled and not great.

See?  Don't I sound like an old geezer?  "These concerts are too loud.  I don't know how young kids today keep their hearing."  Like that.  I grew up in Southern California and remember going to the open air Greek Theater and Hollywood Bowl.  They were great, even with uncomfortable seats.  More leg room, no danger of falling, no going deaf. (By the way, thank you Darryl Dickerhoff.  I don't know if I ever expressed proper gratitude for those long ago concerts. I hate remembering dumb stuff I did as a kid.)

   

That being said, it was a good concert.  The opening act was Hunter Hayes.  I had never heard of him, but my daughter had and said he was good.  He was quite the musician, playing on an acoustic and electric guitars and a few songs on the piano.  He did a lot of jumping at the end of songs reminding me of Michael J. Fox in Back To The Future.  The girls in the crowd LOVED him.  He even came back during Carrie Underwood's performance to sing a duet with her...more screams from little girls holding up signs that stated they LOVED him..

Lee was not too impressed because, after all, the last concert we went to in Roanoke had Lady Antebellum AND Darius Rucker as opening acts for Brad Paisley.  Hard to beat them.  But then,  we aren't little girls.  I don't remember lots of screaming during THAT concert.  I do remember both Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw doing some "unplugged" sets where I could take out my earplugs and just enjoy.  Carrie Underwood did all LOUD songs with a lot of power in the high notes and she is great, but I had to keep the plugs in all night.  No soft ballads for her.

   

She did have quite a few costume changes, something Brad and Tim never did. ; )  There was a really cool/scary few songs where she rode a small stage attached to a railing over the arena.  It wobbled and swayed and I prayed that it would not fall on the crowd below. 

   

She had some great visuals as scenes were played on the backdrop and a lot of fancy strobe lights.  I don't know it was planned that way, but we were frequently blinded by powerful lights aimed right at us.  Then we couldn't see the stage, or much of anything else when they finally aimed elsewhere.


   

Two more comments that have nothing to do with the show.  At every Carrie Underwood concert, $1.00 is collect from every ticket to go to the Red Cross.  At over 7,000 seats, that is a nice donation.  Every concert!

Notice all the little lights.  That is people on cell phones.  A lot of them are taking video of the performance.  But SCADS of them were people scrolling or texting or Facebooking (is that a verb?).

   


I don't get it.  You pay all that money and go to all the trouble to go to the concert and you can't just watch and listen?  You can't wait to tweet that you went to the concert until after?  See how old I am?

All complaining aside, Carrie Underwood gave a great show and I'm glad we went.  In a different venue, I would have no complaints. 

Next time we go to the Civic Center, I guess it will have to be an orchestra event without amplifiers for this old broad.  On the other hand, Bill Cosby is coming and I love him.  I might laugh myself sick, but I can handle that!

In the past year we have seen Merle Haggard, Lady Antebellum,, Tim McGraw, The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Aaron Neville. We listened to the RSO and Aaron Neville last night. They were both wonderful, but Mr. Neville should have warmed up his voice before the concert. It took him until 20 minutes into the first set before he could hit the high notes with any power. It was a great show, though...and the man is 66 for crying out loud!

Yes, we live in the country in a small town with no stop lights, although they are discussing painting a crosswalk in the near future. But within a 30 minute drive, we can see a play, shop in a mall, go to a big hospital, visit a vineyard, hike the Appalachian Trail or the Blueridge Parkway.

On our property we have seen groundhogs, deer, fox, raccoon, rabbits, squirrels, turkeys, hawks and any number of birds, including very large and ugly buzzards. I saw a bear crossing the road on the way to work one morning. Totally cool, because I was in my car...not so cool had I been walking. Plus he turned and ran away, so I guess I scared him!

So, with all the wildlife and being so far out in the country, you might not expect to see such wonderful programs at the 2 Civic Centers nearby, the ones in Salem and Roanoke. Perhaps the entertainers were on their way to D.C. and they got lost out here in the boonies! But for whatever reason, Lee and I have been taking advantage of the opportunity. OK, so most of the HUGE acts stop in Virginia Beach or Charlottesville or some other big city, but I hate crowds, so that doesn't bother me so much. Sure, I'd like to see Brad Paisley. Maybe I'll catch him on his way to a bigger venue. Although I hate to admit it, the Lady/Mcgraw concert was way too loud for me. I don't think it is because I am so old these days. The sound became distorted it was so loud and my ears rang all night. So an outdoor venue would probably suit these old ears better.

We are 8 hours from New York. We have yet to make the drive. Maybe someday we'll go and see some Broadway shows. For now we are happy with the shows that stop here on their way elsewhere.

From the sublime to the mundane...shedding.


AHHH! The hot, itchy, sweaty winter coats of the horses is starting to come out. After a few hot days and a bit of running around and the hair is starting to loosen.

A shedding blade is a long flexible blade with tiny teeth on one side. When used properly it pulls the hair off in a neat semi-circle. First I use a curry comb in circles to get the hair and dirt loose. Then I pull everything I freed off the horse in long slow strokes of the shedding blade. Libby is ticklish and when I scratch along her back she dips away from the brushing. Afterwards the barn is littered with hair and dirt.



The birds will probably like it. I can imagine that the hair would probably make for a nice nest. In fact we have a few that keep trying to nest in our barn. If nor for the horrid piles of bird droppings under the nest, I would let them, but it is unsightly and unsanitary so we knock their nest down as soon as we see them starting up again. We have acres of trees..go there!

While I had Libby and Claire in their crossties, I gave them their bi-monthly worming, a never ending quest to keep them parasite free. Then I put on Libby's fly mask. She gets horribly bothered by flies and her eyes swell up something terrible. I left Claire's mask off again. Her mask has made a raw spot on her chin. I have to wash it in case a build up of hair is the culprit. Then I will try again. It worked great all last season, but if it continues to irritate her, then I will have to buy another one. She isn't as susceptible as Libby, but the flies get bad in the summer and I want her as comfortable as possible.