Wednesday, June 22, 2011

My Future Wife, and Joe Ely!

What an eventful last 12 days. A week and a half ago while I was performing my second show in two weeks at the Bluebird, my girlfriend Kim was hit by a woman running a red light, injuring her and totaling her car. Fortunately, she was not injured all that badly, and the insurance is going to cover the car. But what trauma.

Then, the next night...I asked her to marry me! This was planned, of course, before the accident, but the surprise for me was that my own brother and his girlfriend showed up at the party (the night was also my birthday), completely unbeknownst to me. Er...from Toronto. Kim had planned this. So that was quite a surprise. But I trumped it! So what a milestone, a moment neither of us will ever forget, and we look forward to the rest of our lives together.

Then last night, my band and I opened for Joe Ely. And it was a great night. As a fan, I couldn't have hoped for anything more. I gave the performance of my life and we got a standing ovation from Joe's crowd. Then Joe came on and did what exactly he's built a career doing - he stole the show. Where we brought the thunder and the electricity, Joe brought the wind, the rain, the motorcycles, the stories, the righteousness, the outlaws, the plains....and the electricity. I feel no bashfulness in saying I felt fearless to give it my all, because I know that you can't blow Joe Ely off the stage. His personality and depth is such that over the course of his show, nothing else matters. I feel no shame saying that I wanted him to steal the night. Because he's Joe Ely. He leaves you with moments you'll never forget. Want proof:



And how are you going to top this:



I'm thankful for the night, and look forward to more great nights.

Here are a couple of pics from Jon Karr (thatverynextthing.blogspot.com, thatverynextthing.com), who came to a show of ours a few nights prior: