Two Hot Dates and other stuff

Well I just confirmed two hot dates … with someone who is very exciting and more importantly, very reliable and not afraid to commit to a date … me.  I am taking myself to see blues great Buddy Guy next week at my favorite local music venue The Birchmere.  And in November I will take myself to see A Christmas Carol at the famous Ford’s Theatre in DC.

So I have been on my own for almost a year now and continue to prove to myself how delusional I was when I thought that some of my female friends would eventually become ‘dates’.  I didn’t really expect that but my male ego painted pictures in my head.  At this point the canvas is still blank.   

During the last five years or more of my marriage I mostly went to events alone anyway.  There were times when I shared concerts or sports events with female friends and just spending time with a woman felt a little like a date.  I like that feeling.  And I like to share music, theatre, sports and meals, so it is a little disappointing that I can’t get my female friends to commit to going with me to these things. 

But that will not stop me.  Maybe the next phase of my self-discovery journey is learning to accept and enjoy going solo.

Seeing A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre is nearly an obsession with me now.  I did this once, 28 years ago, and have thought about it every year since.  That play and story resonates with me and seeing a spectacular performance of it at the historic Ford’s Theatre adds to the experience.  For many years I lived too far away from downtown DC to make it make sense, but even in the years when I lived closer, I couldn’t get my then wife to go.  We did see the play one year at a historic theatre near where we lived in Frederick MD, but Ford’s has been my target.

This year I committed myself to it, asked a couple of friends, then decided to just buy one ticket.  I was feeling like Scrooge all day today and buying the ticket a few minutes ago snapped me right out of that negative zone.

The damn government better not still be shut down in November.  It turns out Ford’s Theatre is run in partnership with the National Park service, and all performances have been cancelled since the shutdown began.  And apparently the audio on this video has also been shutdown …

I’m excited to see Buddy Guy next week.  I’ve been thinking about that one for a few weeks now, hoping it wouldn’t sell out by the time I finally committed to going.  I checked and rechecked my work and personal schedule to make sure there were no conflicts next Tuesday.  I love the Birchmere but I hate mid-week adventures through the traffic into Virginia and I know from experience that it is easy to get lost finding that venue.  Once there, however, it is a great place to see live music.  It only holds a few hundred people and every seat is good.  It is a general admission hall with tables and chairs, food service and drinks.  The food is pretty good.  They have a take-a-number system … the earlier you get there the earlier you can get in when they open the doors to the seating area.  You go in and pick your spot.

There are three other shows on sale now that I am interested in but I decided to wait a bit longer for those, partly to see if I can get a ‘date’ and partly because these tickets are a little pricey.  Elton John hits DC in November and it is almost sold out already; but even the cheap seats are more than I want to spend.  Too bad because I really enjoyed the six songs I saw him play at the festival in Vegas and I wanted to see a whole show. 

Robert Cray is another artist I’ve wanted to see for a long time.  He is coming to the Birchmere in November, but I will wait a bit longer to buy tickets.  It’s another mid-week adventure at that place.

The Tedesci Trucks Band is another blues band I’ve been wanting to see.  They’re coming to the Warner Theatre in DC in January.  That is also a great place to see a show and it is one block from Metro (the DC subway).  And it’s a Saturday.  But January is a long way off so I need to think about that one a bit more.

So do I really think I will be sharing either of those last two?  I doubt it.  Will I have fun seeing them by myself.  Yes I will.  I’ll keep trying to convince myself of that anyway.