David Olney I Love You.....oh, and Mary too.....

Oh. My.

Good weekend......our beloved friend (and bartender) Mary offered to watch the boys overnight so we could go to Indianapolis and see our equally beloved David Olney...  I know what you are thinking and yes, she IS nuts.  I SO wanted to go however that I took her up on it.  I got a bit teary that afternoon thinking about the few times we had left the guys with other people----primarily just my sisters if I'm recalling correctly although perhaps my friend Eileen as well....

Anyway, we headed out late Saturday afternoon.....the weather was beautiful and we listened to David Olney and the new Ian Hunter as we drove through the flatness....

Ernie had made a crack that pissed me off while I was trying to get the directions to the hotel and the club so I stopped my attempts so, uh....we didn't really have them.  Whoops.  We found the club no problem and then attempted to find our hotel.....around and around and around we went but the miraculous thing?  We were perfectly calm and didn't get all tense with each other.  Eventually I found the directions from the hotel to the club so then I just had to turn them around which was surprisingly hard to wrap my head around but we eventually found our way.  We had a ridiculously expensive hotel----even though I got it via Hotwire because there was a race in town today so everything was completely full.

You know, as wonderful as it was to be just the two of us it felt very odd checking into a hotel without the guys....they would have found it all very exciting....lots of uh....race people, someone playing the piano, a huge mini convenience store, a bar in the lobby.....  We checked in and headed up to our room only to realize we'd forgotten to bring the wine and beer we had brought with us....then I realized....oops, it doesn't MATTER because we can leave the room and go to the bar.  Woo-hooooo!  So we called the club to double check the time (and I got all nervous that they were going to say it was canceled or something) and then went downstairs and had a drink in the lobby bar.  Pretty entertaining.  I gotta say....the race crowd gives you good people watching opportunities.  It was interesting being in this upscale hotel and have men without shirts carrying twelve packs of Bud Light wandering through the lobby....

We headed over to the club....I was all nervous and giggly....I kid you not.  I thought I was too old to get like that but nope....not true.  Walked into a small place, lots of loud beer drinkers....probably couldn't hold more than a hundred people....  There were a couple of tables smack dab in front of the stage but I got freaked out so we sat in a booth just a bit further away from the tiny stage.  And I do mean tiny. 

The bartender came over and was charming.....I ordered a glass of chardonnay and he said, "mmmmm, I don't know" so I reassuringly said, "oh anything that's cold and white," and he said "mmmmm, I don't know but I'll go check."  He swept back a few minutes later with a beer glass partially full of wine and said that was all he had.  Hmmmmm. So I tried some beer but you know, I'm just not into carbonation so I switched to Jamesons on rocks.  Can I tell you one thing?  Not eating much for dinner and then going from white wine to beer to Jamesons....uh, not so smart.....and yet you do what you have to, huh?

Ernie took the cds we had with us over to David Olney to have him sign them and say hello.  He asked me to come with him and I said 'no fucking way.....not til I have another drink.'  I was INTIMIDATED.  We ordered some bad bar food but didn't eat it all because they started playing and it felt rude to eat....

Oh and Ernie got the nod from Sergio Webb.  Ernie has this strange ability to get 'the nod'.....you know, the nod of recognition, the nod of I-can-tell-you-are-cool-so-I'll-just-give-you-the-nod.  It's uncanny.....he tends to get it from long haired guys and musicians.  Let me just say that I NEVER get the nod.

Whenever Sergio wasn't playing he just put his hands behind his back and tipped his head down......god it was the most wonderful visual.....

They started to play....and I grinned like a fool the whole frigging time.  A couple of times I almost wanted to cry.  And you know what's not fair? You know apart from the million OTHER things that aren't fair in life?  That David Olney seems to be revered as a songwriter....but he's much more than the songs he writes----he's an incredible performer and I just knew it would be like that.  I KNEW It. I expected a lot but I got even more.  And man, he was masterful....I don't know how many people in the crowd realized who they were listening to but he slowly hooked them in and had them under control by the end of the night.  Amazing.  Frigging amazing.

We chatted and I told him how happy he made me.  Maybe I sound like an idiot when I tell people that....I wish there were some way to really communicate what it means to you.  Oh well....you do the best you can....

We happily meandered back to our hotel and went and had another drink in the lobby.  We tried to order food but it was too late....although the cute little bartender brought us cashews to nibble and also bought us a drink because she said we were the nicest couple that night.  Huh.  I tell you...  I think it was just that I had a post Olney glow and was so happy to be drinking wine again..... A blurry picture of Ernie, David Olney, me and Sergio Webb.  Should have remembered to turn the flash on again but perhaps the blurriness makes it better.  That little blurry glow?  That's really how I felt.

The bed in the hotel was luxurious and we snuggled in happily. The next morning we sauntered out in a happy Olney daze and headed home.  We weren't ready for the highway so we took US 40 (the old National Road) out of town and then took smaller highways for much of the drive.  We used to always try to take old roads so it felt really good.....we felt like us.....

We got home, I hugged Mary, heard about the successful outing she and the boys took to the County Fair and could tell that now the whole family----Leo, Owen, Bob and Hattie included------now ALL love her....  Then I laid down on the couch, tried to nap and instead just watched David Olney videos on youtube. 

Ernie's in the same happy daze I am.  God I love you David Olney.....  I owe you.....well, you and Mary.....