JAMES TAYLOR!!!
Ryan IMed me Tuesday morning that one of his coworkers was trying to get rid of a bunch of free tickets to the James Taylor concert that night. Was I interested? Uh, yeah!
So we scrapped all other plans, found a babysitter, and went to a concert. On the way, we suddenly wondered what other folk would be attending this concert. I mean, it was hosted by the local easy listening station, after all! We were afraid we'd be the youngest people there. While most of the heads were grey, there were plenty of people our age (many attending with their parents) and quite a few teenagers!
James Taylor's lookin' a bit old, but I suppose that's to be expected. His voice still sounds exactly the same, though. And he's a funny guy! It was really cool how he would just be picking his guitar a bit, then all of a sudden the tune would meld into the recognizable beginning of one of his classic songs and suddenly everyone cheered. One thing's for sure, that man can play the guitar!
He told stories about how and when he wrote a few songs. For example, he wrote "Sweet Baby James" as a lullaby for his brand-new baby nephew (who was named after him) on his drive to see him for the first time. And "You've Got a Friend" was written by Carol King who he was performing with. He was just messing around, playing her new song on his guitar, and she overheard him and said he should record it first. He said, "If only I'd known I'd play that song every night for the rest of my life...."
The concert was way too loud (yes, even though it was James Taylor), and he played a lot of songs I didn't know, but he played all the important ones I'd gone to hear! Sweet Baby James, You've Got a Friend, How Sweet it is to be Loved by You, Fire & Rain, Country Road, Something in the Way She Moves, Carolina in My Mind, and he even sang "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma! I was surprised that the crowd was the most animated, got up and danced the most to "Mexico." That was a fun one.
I had a great time. Ryan didn't know hardly any of the songs, except a few that he said he recognized from cell phone commercials :) He kept joking that the music on this elevator sure was loud!