Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Two-stepping on stage

I recently re-acquired a greatest hits cd of a band that I enjoyed years ago, Southern Pacific.
The band was popular in the late 1980's. It consisted of two members of The Doobie Brothers, and the music was really country rock but not in The Eagles sort of way.
Perhaps one of the reasons I enjoyed Southern Pacific so much is from the concert I went to in Medford. I think it was about 1989 or so. While Medford rarely got headline acts, it did get some artists that were on the way up or, more commonly, on the way down. Because it is a relatively small town with small venues, the crowds weren't huge and security was less restrictive as bigger arenas. I would say most concerts at the time were more informal than larger cities.

I bought two tickets for the Southern Pacific performance, reserved seating - second row. TS and I got to the arena (and I use the word arena loosely) and found someone in our seats. No big deal, we thought, as the show hadn't started. So we sat in the third row.
As the opening act came on the person whose seats we were in came and wanted to sit down. So we reminded the people in front of us that they were, in fact, in our seats.
That's when the trouble started. Well, not really. But it could have.
I showed the tickets.
They countered that they had been told (by the ticket seller) that it was general admission and the seat numbers didn't mean anything. I pointed out that was ridiculous and they were fools for believing it.
Since we were temporarily homeless I went to get a security guard to straighten things out.
I didn't want to cause a scene but I did want TS and I to sit down, in good seats like I had paid for and be able to enjoy the show.
The security guard came over and assessed the situation.
I whispered something to him, conferred with TS, and then the guard contacted someone on his walkie talkie.
TS and I were then escorted on to the side of the stage, stage right, where two folding chairs were set up for us. Just us.
We sat down and enjoyed the show. Just us and the band, about 15 feet away. No one else on the stage.
The view was great but the sound was awful.
Because we were on a concrete floor (rather than dirt, sawdust and rodeo droppings that the rest of the crowd were on) we were able to dance, especially the two-step which is my favorite. Southern Pacific had some songs that are great two-steppers.
After the concert I went over to the band and removed two set lists, which are the list of songs the band will play that night. A great souvenir. TS and I got to meet the band and I got my setlist autographed. I recall one of the musicians commenting that we were the couple dancing on the stage and he mentioned how much they enjoyed that.
I gave one set list, the one used by drummer Keith Knuden, to a good acquaintance, Dale, who played drums in a local band.
Dale died a decade later and Keith Knudsen died in 2005.
But the memory of that night lives on.

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