Human nature and hope for the future.

I had a very interesting night with my middle son, Justin Shelton, Justin John Shelton to be exact, Saturday night. He plays harmonica with a couple of different bands, the newest being a very talented blues band which goes by the handle of Josh Vowell and the Rumble. It was the first time I had seen them live and they were a delight to watch!

Josh is a very talented lead guitarist and vocalist, wonderful to watch, and his band mates, Myrl Brown – Bass and Vocals and Mike Lindsay – Drums and percussion are awesome as well. As I was sitting and watching how animated Josh is while playing I kept thinking of the Essurance commercial where folks go from real to animated, he really is THAT animated and into what he is doing….very fun to watch! His hands were flying so fast on that guitar on some numbers that they were a total blur, very cool visual!

Here is the other thing I found interesting about that night….alcohol and how things start to change in a bar between 10:30 and 11:00 pm, that magic half hour during which the alcohol kicks into effect and people start losing their inhibitions. Not something that has escaped my attention before but I haven’t been in a bar for that length of time in years so it was rather a refresher course in human nature.

I spent a fair amount of time in bars in my teenage years, yeah I know what can I say it was the seventies and I was coming of age! During those years I was most certainly one of the drinking participants. Later in my late twenties and early thirties I did spend some time on a fairly regular basis with friends in bars watching comedians but even more going out dancing, we were all not drinkers at the time so Saturday night was not a first for me, just the first time in a long time and a rather amusing reminder of “There for but for the Grace of God go I“.

It definitely reminded me of some of the very reasons that alcohol does not hold much of an allure for me. It is sad I think that so many people turn to it thinking it is the answer to having a good time or escaping, when in reality it is a depressant and truly folks it can make you act like an ass. I am all for having a good time, fun is wonderful, but I will share with you something I discovered a very long time ago, everything is more fun sober and I do mean everything, music, dancing, sex, etc., etc.. It’s how life was meant to be experienced I think, without your senses dulled, wide open and experiencing it to the fullest.
Of course there were some folks there who just had a couple of drinks, perfectly fine, but I am referring to the folks who just keep on drinking because they think it is the way to let it all hang out and have a good time or think they can‘t do it any other way.

The little group that I found the most amusing was comprised of three women who were certainly out to have a good time and more power to them, and they made me smile more than once that evening but boy by the end of the night man oh man! One of them kept losing her footing and ended up with her butt firmly planted on Josh’s pedal board, not just once but twice. I had been sitting there waiting for it to happen and happen it surely did. Don’t think she did any damage but by then she was so past loopy it took her awhile to get up off the thing.

Earlier in the evening I enjoyed dancing with my son a bit, which by the way totally made him points with a cute girl tending bar whose number he was trying to get;-) Mostly though I was enjoying sitting there and experiencing the music, just having a good time, minding my own business as it were and observing all the goin’s on. So during one my son’s recon missions to the bar as I am sitting with his friend totally into the music one of these women totally grabs me by the hand and yanks me out onto the dance floor and do I mean yanks. The two girlfriends she had been dancing with had temporarily abandoned her to go drag a couple of guys out there with them and apparently she felt the need for company.

Dancing with other women is something women do quite naturally I think most of us are just that way, probably something healthy about that, in the past however when I have partaken in such activity it has been with friends of mine and I knew it was coming this one took me by surprise I must say. I will admit it made me nervous for a second there as well as they had reached the point that they were being overtly sexual with each other, putting on a show for whoever it was they were trying to pick up and I was not interested in being a part of that particular show. So mercifully it was only about half a song and I managed to have some fun with it, the highlight was when she leaned over and asked me if my son’s friend was my boyfriend, pretty much sums up where their collective minds were at as if there were any doubt by that time;-)

So when I left there and was driving home after the show that night one of the things I was thinking is this….something I have noticed with the current adolescent generation that I know through my youngest who will be sixteen in November that I find both encouraging and fascinating is this, in his group of friends it isn’t only the girls who are perfectly comfortable with dancing with other girls it is the guys as well. These kids at school dances are something, they are sober, dancing with whoever and full throttle having a good time, they rarely sit down, just full on do it, and I think it is wonderful that they are that secure in themselves….gives me hope for the future!

They are certainly more evolved than my friends and myself at that age, thank God!

So back to Josh Vowell and the Rumble as I wind this up, they are awesome, they are going places and if you get the chance to see them go for it! Below is their current and upcoming schedule. Keep your eye on them…. and you can check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/joshvowellandtherumble …I look for them to be a big success!

Light and Blessings,

Stacy



Upcoming Shows )

Jul 15 2009 8:00P SIDELINES JAM TOPEKA, Kansas
Jul 17 2009 8:00P KOBIS BAR & GRILL, BONNER SPRINGS KS,(www.myspace.com/kobisbar) BONNER SPRINGS, Kansas
Jul 18 2009 8:30P UNCLE BO’S, TOPEKA, www.unclebos.com 785-234-4317 TOPEKA, Kansas
Jul 22 2009 8:00P SIDELINES JAM TOPEKA, Kansas
Jul 24 2009 10:00P McBEES SPORTS BAR & GRILL, TOPEKA,KS. (785-267-7400) TOPEKA, Kansas
Jul 25 2009 8:00P CONRADS BAR & GRILL, OVERBROOK KS,(785-665-3395) OVERBROOK, Kansas
Jul 29 2009 8:00P SIDELINES JAM TOPEKA, Kansas
Aug 7 2009 8:00P THE OFFICE (www.drinkattheoffice.com)TOPEKA TOPEKA, Kansas
Aug 8 2009 9:00P THE HIDEOUT BAR & GRILL, GLADSTONE,MO.www.myspace.com/frankgabel GLADSTONE, KANSAS CITY, Missouri
Aug 14 2009 9:00P LLYWELYNS PUB , OVERLAND PARK, KS. www.llywelynspub.com OVERLAND PARK, Kansas
Aug 15 2009 9:00P BOBBY T’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL, MANHATTAN,KS(785-537-8383) MANHATTAN, Kansas
Aug 21 2009 6:00P PARKVILLE DAYS, PARKVILLE MO.(KCMO) PARKVILLE, Missouri
Sep 5 2009 9:00P THE SLOWRIDE ROADHOUSE,LAWRENCE KS.www.slowrideroadehouse.com (785-749-2727) LAWRENCE, Kansas
Sep 11 2009 9:00P JAX EATERY AND DRINKS, TOPEa(785-266-0020) TOPEKA, Kansas
Sep 12 2009 9:00P PERRY BAR & GRILL,PERRY, KS. (785-597-5295) PERRY, Kansas
Sep 19 2009 9:00P BOOMERS BAR & GRILL, GLADSTONE, MO GLADSTONE, Missouri
Sep 25 2009 9:00P JERRY’S BAITSHOP, LEE’S SUMMIT,MO.(816-525-1871) LEE’S SUMMIT, Missouri
Oct 2 2009 9:00P JAX EATERY & DRINKS, TOPEKA,(785-266-0020) TOPEKA, Kansas
Oct 3 2009 9:00P THE CELTIC FOX,TOPEKA,KS (785-235-2138) TOPEKA, Kansas
Oct 9 2009 9:00P THE HIDEOUT BAR & GRILL, GLADSTONE MO.www.myspace.com/frankgabel GLADSTONE, KCMO, Missouri
Nov 6 2009 9:00P THE SLOWRIDE ROADHOUSE, LAWRENCE KS. www.slowrideroadhouse.com LAWRENCE, Kansas
Nov 7 2009 9:00P BOBBY T’s BAR & GRILL, MANHATTAN,KS. www.bobbyts.com MANHATTAN
Nov 20 2009 9:00P JAX EATERY & DRINKS,TOPEKA,KS TOPEKA, Kansas
Dec 4 2009 9:00P JAX EATERY & DRINKS, TOPEKA(785-266-0020) TOPEKA, Kansas
Dec 5 2009 9:00P THAT PLACE, TOPEKA,KS.,visit www.myspace.com/thatplacetopeka TOPEKA, Kansas
Dec 12 2009 9:00P THE CELTIC FOX, TOPEKA,KS (785-235-2138) TOPEKA, Kansas