My Night With Ricky

...and this is all I have to show for it. My friend Rick and I (how many Rick/Rich/Rickys were in the room that night?) walked into the DAR Constitution Hall and we weren't frisked, magneto-detected, nuthin'! I could have brought my freakin' camera like everyone else there did, but noooooooooooo. I coulda gotten some sweet pix (we had seats pretty close to the stage) but I've gotta just go with the memories instead.

(I was supposed to go with my gal-pal Lara, but she got stuck in jury duty up in MontCo and didn't get out in time to get into DC for the show. How sucky is that?!! Sorry sweetie, next time for sure!!! But Rick was very happy he got to go in your place. I had no idea he appreciated the fine points of Ricky like Lara & I do! ;-) )

I loved the show overall; Ricky was just la bomba, amazing to watch and he even made it fun and "participatory". His energy, charisma, and just totally-positive vibe was just invigorating (he talked about peace on earth without getting preachy or political, it was a simple message but one that might be effective for some people at least to create peace on a small scale - nuttin' wrong with that!). And Dios mio, that man can move!

It was sorta cute how seated to our right were two young ladies who were Ricky concert veterans (3 times) and one of whom said, "He is the hottest man I have ever seen!" I shot back, "No argument with you there!" In front of us was 24-year-old Miss Thing with his gelled-up faux-mo and two fag-hags from the office. Or whatever. Which was kinda different than the overall audience profile -- 13-year-old screaming Latinas. Not that there's anything wrong with that! (Why else would Ricky come to DC??)

I was a bit disappointed musically in the show; the older stuff he did was only the big hits (many of which were done in totally different style than the originals), and of all the ballads, he only did one of my favorites ("Vuelve") and it was towards the end of the show. There was still so much of a rush from the high-energy stuff that it never generated the quiet emotional pull of the single. Too bad, it's a great song. His new stuff was pretty good (when I got home that night I went online and bought the new album!), and old favorites like "La Copa de la Vida / The Cup of Life" and "Maria" were probably the highlights of the show.

All in all, it was a super cool experience. For a real-live review of essentially the same show I saw, and some pretty much similar reaction as mine to it, here ya go.

And now the obligatory totally gratuitous sexy Ricky pixies.

Pittsburgh Makes it 5

I'm so happy for Pittsburgh and Pittsburghers that they have another day in the limelight as national sports champions.
And what better sport to achieve that in than football? Football has been such a part of Pennsylvania culture, from high school teams, to Penn State (go Lions!), to the NFL, football is just something that PA people love. I confess that the only football that ever interested me was Penn State, while I was a student there. But I can totally appreciate what football means to so many Pennsylvanians. (Check out the movie All the Right Moves sometime and you'll see what I mean.)
I lived in Pittsburgh for more or less 4 years in the mid-90s. Already the city's "renaissance" of the mid-80s was starting to peel away, revealing a region with the oldest population in the country and an economic profile that was driving most of its young people to the sun belt or at least to metro DC or (God forbid!) Harrisburg. But the city has a charm and a history that's quite unlike any other. I don't regret my time there one bit, and in a way I almost wish there could have been something job-wise to keep me there.



Congratulations, Steelers! Congratulations, Pittsburgh. May you live long and prosper!