Pay 50 bucks and pick up the garbage

So I dragged Jeanette out with me to see the show. We arrived at just the right amount of time. We got our tickets at the door, found our seats and about 5 minutes later the show started.

Arlo came out, along with his 2 kids, Saralee (guitar) and Abe (Keyboards), and his son in law Johnny (Also on guitar) and another dude on mando and steel guitar. They opened with an instrumental jig just to get the juices flowing, and then Arlo began to tell stories and back up with tunes. He was in perfect Arlo form.

They performed quite a few of Woody's songs, some originals by the kids, and of course a few of Arlo's classics and some new stuff. The highlight of the evening? After a brief intermission, Arlo came out and sat center stage to perform "Alice's Restaurant Masacree" in its glorious entirety. He has added and amended the story in a few key places to make it more understandable for a new generation, but it was still the same old Masacree that Arlo fans have known and loved for 40 years. I was just f&*#ing ecstatic. I was grinning from ear to ear and laughing and feeling so good!!

They ended with "This land is your land", a familiar Woody classic, and encored with a song that Woody had written on his death bed. Arlo had taken the lyrics and set his own tune to it. It was a sweet piece, about peace. Really lovely and moving.

After the show J and I went across the street to a little tavern called "Stonewall Jackson's" (we just call it The Wall), where we met up with Steph and Joel. We drank and laughed, bitched and moaned, waxed philosophic, laughed some more, drank some more and generally had a great time until we closed the place down.

I have not had so much pure unadulterated fun in such a long time. I felt free and easy and younger than I have in years. As Arlo put it, I felt "...that kind of peace that you have on the inside, that make dogs lick you and babies like you."

Thanks Arlo for a great show, and thanks to my friends for all the fun after.