music to my ears

This summer holds a lot of great concert opportunities in the Philadelphia area, ranging from The Dixie Chicks' new album release, Mariah Carey's long-awaited come-back tour, to The Black Crowes, Ben Harper, The Counting Crows, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

I have always been a fan of concerts. My participation, however, seems to have to changed over the years. From my college days of practically touring with Dave Matthews, seeing him in concert close to 12 times (I lost count after a while...), while I would put all of my efforts into the pre-partying rather than actually enjoying the concert itself. And, as great as that was, my perspective has changed to focus more on the actual musical talents rather than how many beers I can pound before we have to go into the show. Lord knows the $8 beers sold inside the concert venue were way out of my budget in my Dave Matthew-following days.

My main concert-going challenge these days...you know, in my old age...is actually finding friends to join in on the fun with me. My husband is a great sport and offers his duties to tag-along with me to shows he would rather not...but I have a feeling my favor requests are beginning to run short. When, at one time, we had to limit the number of people to invite to concerts for fear we'd have too many people to fit into the few cars we had...I now have to beg and bribe to capture the interest of maybe one or two girlfriends in joining me in attendance.

See what old age does to you? Not even Tom Petty can bribe a lady to some fun these days.