Charley!

I went to a great concert last night -- Charley Pride! -- at the CN Centre here in PG. First time I've been to a "real" concert here in PG, something I really miss about the Lower Mainland and frequently gripe about the lack thereof here in the hinterland. We had good seats -- off to the side, but next to floor level and not far from the stage -- and best of all, the tickets were a gift -- as in free. Charley Pride's son, Dion Pride, opened the show (how cool is that for a proud papa?), and later came back on stage to do a duet with his Dad. Dion is definately a talented young man (Charley told the audience his youngster takes after his Mama -- its interesting to note he's been married to the boy's Mama since 1955. That's gotta be some kind of record for a man in the music business!). There was an intermission following Dion, then a solid hour and a half of foot stompin', clapping, singing-along to Charley! My hands are actually a bit sore today from clapping.

I was quite surprised how many lyrics came out of my mouth automatically ("When the dew wears off of your crystal chandelier ...", "Oh the snakes crawl at night ..."), even tho I haven't been listening to his music much lately. In addition to his own repertoire of hits, he did an excellent and amusing imitation of George Jones ("He stopped lovin' her today ..."), and a little fancy Elvis footwork ("Jailhouse Rock"), and paid tribute to four 'Greats' that he had opened for or performed with over the years: Marty Robbins, Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash ("Ring of Fire"). He also paid tribute to Jim Reeves (the CD at the top of my wish list!), and to his Mama with the title song from his CD, COMFORT OF HER WINGS (the #2 CD at the top of my wish list):

"Daddy always called her angel,
but I never
knew why;
I was looking for
her halo,

He was looking in her eye ..."

Predictably ( considering the number of shouted requests for it ), he ended the show with a song that might be considered politically incorrect these days, but certainly well received by the audience: "Kaw-lija", the cigar store Indian.

"Poor old Kaw-lija, never got a kiss!
Poor old Kaw-lija, don't know what he missed!
Is it any wonder that his face was red,
Kaw-lija with his poor old wooden head ..."

He came back on stage for one quick encore ("Oh when those cotton bolls get rotten, you don't get very much cotton, in them old cotton fields back home ..."), and then it was all over way too fast. He definately puts on an enjoyable show, so if Charley Pride's coming to your city . . . DON'T MISS HIM!

On the knitting front, I've got all my oxblood/fuschia and pine/mint squares finished (that's 120 hexagons piled up on top of my dresser!). I still haven't decided on a third set of colours, but since Saturday's unproductive yarn shopping trip, I'm leaning toward black centres with lemon. I guess this means another yarn shopping trip! In fact, I might just go do that this afternoon as I suddenly have a few free hours on my hands. My "tutee" is busy having her grad pictures taken, and the book I had planned to spend the rest of the afternoon reading isn't in the campus Library.