The Original JT and Good News

Wasn't planning on doing a blog post tonight, but just watched the last Tonight Show. Never been a Jay Leno fan, always a loyalist to Dave. But Jay is a good guy just the same. He had James Taylor as his final musical guest (I did flash back to Letterman's last show of Art Garfunkel performing "Bridge Over Troubled Water"(....since then, I've seen Art perform it WITH Paul Simon, something people didn't think would happen again but it has lots of times, so I am holding hope for you too, Axl and Slash!) But I digress, wow, parenthesises within parenthesises!)

But seeing James tonight on tv perform Sweet Baby James reminded me of when I heard that live at Oak Mountain in Birmingham my sophomore year in college. We were on the lawn, no fun. My friend, Stidger, and I, decided to get closer to the stage. So we got our way down there. I used to be pretty swift with that....sneaking down to the front row. I just smiled and slid through the crowd, holding a friend's hand....and I am pretty sure I couldn't get away with that at 31...oh well, the joys of youth.

Anyway, there Stidge and I were, on the front row. Suddenly, the concert ended, and after some serious applause, James and crew came out for their encore. The obvious favorites that were not played during the concert came out, as usual. But, now I was there.....like right there.....elbows resting on THE STAGE. Someone had made a wooden cutout of the letters "J" and "T" (I can just picture that trip to Michael's.....) and Stidge and I promptly took them over and held them in the air.

After the for real finale, James down to the front row and shook hands, and Stidger and I were lucky recipients of that grasp. Then we did the slow, sluggish crawl in the line to the exit of the arena. Most of that consisted of heavy metal bars that would hit you right at your hip....keeping you in line. Well, at the time at least, there were openings at Oak Mountain Amphitheater that would open up to a step down and wrought iron patio furniture. I am sure these were mucho moolah seats of comfort. Anyway, as Stidger and I are shifting through the long line, I lean forward in exclamation on my excitement of shaking James Taylor's hands, and unfortunately leaned back to my resting on the metal bar position in one of those very few moments when a bar was not there. That earlier mentioned wrought iron furniture broke my fall...with my head. Strangers around me were very concerned, but I woozily and embarrassingly got up quickly.

Fast forward an hour, and we were home in Tuscaloosa. I was drowsy, and my friends were worried. Oh, and there was a tennis ball sized knot (no joke) on the back of my head. So, Stidge took me to the emergency room.....now, I will admit, we had been drinking...but it wasn't heavy...even for college. Between another friend driving, travel, and the trauma, we had only a few. But, beer smells, and they ER staff smelled it on us. We sat in the ER in Tuscaloosa for FOUR hours...with no one else in the waiting room. We simply weren't being paid attention to due to our status as students and the smell of alcohol. That knot was bad, but I had ice on it...and it was starting to go down. We were contemplating just leaving as it was obvious I would not even be looked at anytime soon because no one was taking me seriously. At that moment, a special news report broke in on the ER televisions...Princess Diana was in a serious car accident. Of course, we all know how that ended..pretty soon after, there were reports Princess Diana was dead. After that announcement, Stidger and I just looked at each other and that said enough....we were leaving that ridiculous E.R.

On our way out, the only other people of that evening were walking in....a young african american man had been shot in the stomach and his friends on either side were crying and carrying him in. At that point, Stidge and I lost it. The surreality of the last few hours sunk in and hit us in the face with this young man bleeding in front of us. We cried, but nothing felt real.

I really do feel good thoughts when I think of James Taylor's music...it's good stuff. But I had not let myself remember that night in August of 1997 vividly until tonight....it was memorable.

Now, for some good stuff: remember when I told you about my friend Jill and her twin babies? Well, her husband got called up to the Astros tonight! While we do not wish anyone injury, please join me in praying for Matt to be in the majors for a while! They are such a sweet family, and I am blessed to be able to visit with Jillian and the twins tomorrow...you won't believe their growth in just a few months! Pictures to come!