Friday Night Charity

We went to the P.L.E.A.S.E. concert on Friday. P.L.E.A.S.E. being “Pittsburgh Lends Emergency and Saving Efforts” or something like that. At any rate, all the money raised from this huge concert went to hurricane relief. So it was a good thing. We went with our regular concert partners, Ryan’s work buddies and their wives. The good thing about that? Ryan’s boss’s wife recently found out she was pregnant. So I wasn’t the only one not drinking. Yay! Although something tells me that she’s not entirely happy about being pregnant, even though they tried for it. She’s got a long way to go to get to the zen place that I’m in though. And I didn’t even plan it. Hmph.

At any rate, it was a pretty good time, even if I’ve never heard half the bands there. I went mainly to see Rusted Root (awesome) and Donnie Iris (even more awesome!). Even Ryan was impressed by Rusted Root and he typically doesn’t like them. If you haven’t heard them and you like world music with lots of drumbeats, you should check them out. If you’re a fan of classic rock, you should check out Donnie Iris. Wow. For an older man, he can still rock out.

We missed Joe Grushecky, but we did get to witness the horrible spectacle that is B.E. Taylor. I was ready to puke red white and blue by the time he was done. It was like watching Lee Greenwood sing that “Proud to be an American” song over and over again. You can only sing so many songs that have USA in them. And doing a rock version of the American anthem in the middle of a concert is just tacky. The Clarks played last, and as much as I’ve tried to keep an open mind about them, I thought they sucked. They have a huge following in the Pittsburgh area, and I just don’t get it. Plus I’ve personally met them, having worked a few concerts back in my college days. All I remember about them is their rock star attitudes. They were dicks, even as nobodies. I can see having the rock star attitude if you’re, say, the Rolling Stones. But a boring Pittsburgh band? Puh-lease. Ryan had a similar experience with them when they played the Days Inn in Butler. Although because of them, me and Janae (who was my roommate at the time) got to take home 3 meat trays because they turned their noses up at them. I know how offensive meat trays can be, especially when you have them listed on your effing rider. Tsch. Ryan and I took a walk around the arena while they were playing, because I was starting to overheat in the crowd.

I didn’t hear much about how much money was raised after the fact, but seeing the enormous number of people there, it had to be quite a bit. So I was happy to be a part of it. And I love being in Pittsburgh. I only live an hour away and I only get there once a year. I love to drive into the city at night, just to see the skyline.

And on an off topic Pittsburgh note, I just found out that Michael Flatley’s "CELTIC TIGER" is at the Mellon Arena on November 11th. If I still haven’t had Fuzzball by then, I’m going. I can’t think of anything that might induce labor better than the Lord of the Dance.

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