Show Must Go On

Innuendo
Originally uploaded by veryapeaz.

Friday night, SJ and I headed to Glendale Arena to see Queen with Paul Rodgers. Actually, it was only Brian May and Roger Taylor with Paul Rodgers. John Deacon retired. Essentially we got Bad Queen.

Regardless, it was a good show. They played a lot of Queen’s hits and even some Bad Company. I love Paul Rodgers’ voice. Ironically, he sounded better on the Queen songs than on the Bad Company songs. Both Brian May and Roger Taylor sang leads on a few songs too. It seemed like everyone enjoyed playing and the crowd liked it.

Some standouts from the show were Bad Company, Brian May singing Love of My Life, Chuck Taylor singing Radio Ga Ga and These Are the Days of Our Lives and Paul Rodgers singing the second half of Bohemian Rhapsody (a video of Freddy singing the first half at a concert was shown).

After we got home we went straight to bed. But I couldn’t sleep because I was a little nervous about Pride (the Storm was manning a beer truck plus we had an information booth). I organized the scheduling and was afraid people wouldn’t show or something disastrous would happen. So I only got about 3 hours of sleep.

Saturday morning came. The alarm went off at 6:45. The only good part of waking up after 3 hours of sleep is seeing Joe in the bed with me. But I digress.

We marched in the parade and had a blast. We ran some drills and did some lineouts. The crowd seemed to really enjoy it—many people I knew (and didn’t know) came up to me and told me they loved watching us in the parade (I think it’s the short shorts).

I got to the beer truck at 12:30 and stayed there until 9 (except for one bathroom break and one 30-minute dinner break). It was crazy busy, but we were very successful. All of the guys worked their asses off. When guys weren’t scheduled to work, they hung out and helped out. It was really rewarding to see us do this huge task as a team.

Joe and I got home around 10. We showered and watched a little TV to decompress. Then we went to bed. I was talking to him about the day and fell asleep mid-sentence. I was pooped!

Sunday was another great day. The weather was beautiful and everyone was in a good mood.

The weekend was interesting because I discovered something. People don’t remember me.

For example, I’ve met the editor of Red Magazine on four separate occasions and have spoken to him on the phone and via e-mail several times. I saw him and Gilbert (Rickie’s roommate) on Sunday walking around. Gilbert said hello and had to re-introduce me to Chris. It was as if we’d never met.

This also happened with the owner of Hamburger Mary’s (now Burger Betty’s). I’ve been introduced to him by two friends in the past year. He’s walked up to me in a bar TWICE and given me an invitation to an annual uniform party he holds (I thought I was invited because he remembered me—guess not). I’ve also talked to him on the phone because of working at Echo. Each time, I have to reintroduce myself.

The same is true with Kyrsten Sinema—a state legislator and activist. I talk to her on the phone every two weeks for updates on a Marriage Amendment in Arizona. I also see her at every political function and interview her (in person) at said functions. She has no clue who I am.

It’s very bizarre.

HAPPY TUNESDAY MOTHERFUCKERS!

I thought I’d play a little Queen. The Show Must Go On is such a powerful song. It’s the final song on Queen’s final album with Freddy Mercury. He knew he was dying and was feverishly writing music before he succumbed to AIDS. It’s sad that he would only acknowledge that he had AIDS an hour or two before his death. The record is called appropriately Innuendo. Check it out.

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