Let’s Hang On To What We Got.

Facebook and my laptop are not playing nice lately where photo galleries are concerned. I lovingly, tenderly arrange photos, write pithy comments, and then Facebook scrambles all the photos up so the whole thing makes absolutely no sense to anybody.

So, I have decided to just post the photos, and a couple of song videos, without comment. And I will comment here on the blog! Which is custom designed for such a thing.

Recently, I went to Walt Disney World for a week. That is what we call a high-cost vacation. This weekend, I went to Denver on Saturday and came back home Sunday. That is what we call a low-cost getaway. I have a feeling all of my travels will be in the latter classification for a while.

But! One can put no dollar value on getting to see a true rock and roll legend. Especially when the show was postponed not once, but twice. I bought the tickets in February 2020 fully expecting, as so many of us were, that this silly coronamajigger would be old news by June. Ha! Ahhhhh…..the ignorance of the optimistic.

2021! People were getting vaccinated. Outdoor venues were starting to do shows again! But in the extremely….uh….cozy Paramount Theater in Denver (I bumped elbows with a strange woman 4 times during the show), it was not safe yet.

2022! Covid not…uh…overwhelmingly awful? CHECK! Loosening of rules? CHECK! Frankie Valli still alive? CHECK! Let’s do this thing!!!!!!!

I left Alliance on Saturday morning and took the train from Denver International Airport to Union Station. I like visiting Union Station when I’m in Denver. I had a wonderful ham and cheese croissant for breakfast. Union Station reminds me of how quaint and genteel train travel is. It’s a nice memory to put in your pocket when you get back to the airport and some guy runs over your foot with a baby carriage to be the first one off the train. (This really happened to me. DIdn’t actually hurt too bad at all! God forbid they make baby carriages out of the stuff they use to make baby shoes.)

I officially started my Saturday at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It’s a wonderful museum with great exhibits, an IMAX theater, and more taxidermy than you can shake a stick at. The current spotlight exhibit is on Ancient Egypt. Lots of pyramids, cats, asps, the whole variety pack.

After checking in to my hotel, I hopped over to Hard Rock Cafe for a big ol’ steak. Gotta have a steak if steak’s on the menu. I take after my nephew Seamus. He’s a steak fiend as well.

After lunch/dinner I hopped over to the multiplex and saw “The Bob’s Burgers Movie”. It was delightful and I was surprised at how heartwarming it was at the end. Wonderful movie!

A note about this area of Denver, with the Hard Rock and movieplex and Paramount Theatre and the like: I get the feeling they’re trying to make it appear less like a Grand Theft Auto video game and more like the friendly, family-attracting outdoor mall it was back in the day. The Denver Pavilions, in my earliest visits to Denver in the late 90s and early 2000s, was a really nice place. The retail names were huge: Niketown, Virgin Megastore, Media Play, etc. I mean, seriously!? Media Play AND Virgin Megastore!!? It’s a miracle I didn’t end up in debtors prison.

Anyway, the last couple of times I’ve been in that area there are homeless people, buildings and storefronts in decay….I hope they continue to try to improve. The days of huge retail chains setting up shop in that kind of space are long gone. Hopefully something good comes along to fill that gap.

And so, it was time to Walk Like A Man to the Paramount Theater and the concert I waited two years to see! Would you be shocked if I said it was worth the wait?

“I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.”

Frankie Valli came out and started singing “Sherry”, shedding about 65 of his 86 years and hitting those out-of-the-stratosphere high notes. And I had the same big goofy grin I always have at concerts, but I also found myself chuckling now and then. Here’s a guy who’s….and again, I’ll try not to dwell on this….EIGHTY-SIX YEARS OLD. And he just Frankie Vallied the hell out of it.

I will say, when I have gone to see Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Bob Seger and the like my same-age friends can totally join in the excitement of that. But Frankie Valli? Ehhhhh…not so much. In fact, I offered to buy a ticket for a friend of mine who frequently goes on concert adventures with me…and he passed. (He reads this blog, so “Eduardo” (name withheld) it’s all good.

A couple of fun facts:

-“Eduardo”, who did not go to the concert with me, was actually in Denver the same weekend I was, doing something really cool. (My offer came at least two years before this one, but I can’t fault him in either case.)

-“Eduardo” and I went to see the Monkees at the same theater in Denver this very weekend back in 2018.

The fact is, I love 60’s music. It’s my for-real favorite. And that’s partially thanks to my Pappy who had it on in the car radio all the time. I have seen 60’s acts Paul Revere and the Raiders, Johnny Rivers, the aforementioned Monkees (just Mike and Micky), and the spectacular package tour “Happy Together” with The Turtles, The Association, Mark Lindsay, The Cowsills and others.

Perhaps “Let’s Hang On” is my favorite Four Seasons song because it’s how I feel about 60’s music, which unfortunately has faded away from the playlists of many a “classic hits” station, ours included. Time moves forward, what defines the format changes. But boy is that 60’s music good. A rogues gallery of genius songwriters, spectacular production form The Wrecking Crew….simply the best.

“Let’s hang on…to what we got.”