Tag Archives: concert

A Few Words Mean Everything

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     A Few Words Mean Everything

You never think of how powerful words can be.  You never stop to ponder how meaningful or hurtful a couple of words can be to someone.  You never know when you will make a difference in someone’s life.

Kem came to Louisville a couple of weeks ago.  OnyxLouisville gave away several pair of tickets. One of the promotions was through Facebook and it was to vote for your favorite single female.  There were about 18 people that entered.  Each lady was on FB asking her FB friends to vote for her so she could win tickets. But, I noticed something unique about the contest. One of the entrants, Kimberly, went on each of the other entrants page and wrote comments like “Looking good, God bless you”, “Way to go. Win, win, win!”, “Pretty smile, best wishes on winning”…. These were women she is competing against and she voted for each of them while encouraging them to win.  I was in awe of her and I didn’t even know her.  I had an extra pair of tickets, so I called her on Valentine’s Day and offered them to her.  Someone so giving, deserves to be blessed.

Go into the future three days.  Milton and I attend the Kem concert, which was amazing as always.  I sat next to a female that was attending the show solo.  I started small talk with her.  Eventually I asked if she’s take a photo of Milton and I. She asked about iphones, which for some reason lead me to ask if she had grandkids. She told me that she was widowed and that her husband was killed 20 years ago by a drunk driver. He was the love of her life.  She shared many details about the pain she’s felt since his death and what all has happened with the drunk driver.  Then the show started.

Milton gave me sweet kisses on the cheek and we swayed in our seats.  We watched two couples get engaged. Then Kem started signing “I Can’t Get Over You”.  A classic.  As he ooh’d the audience with his vocals, I heard crying.  My new friend sitting next to me was now bawling. I instantly knew that she was thinking about her husband.  I wrapped my arms around her and just let her cry for the rest of the song.  At the end she said, “Thank you so much.” I told her there was a reason we were supposed to sit next to each other and I’m glad I could have been there for her.

The next day while perusing FB, I came across this post from Kimberly.  “Well Daddy, thank you for lifting me up from my depression. I feel like going on. Onyx Louisville gifted me with tickets to Kem and that started the fire. Got my hair did… My brows beat and had a superb weekend. Played hard with my Bunco partners Saturday got a little retail therapy in. Released loads of stress this afternoon at yoga east for meditation and cleansed my soul. Started feeling tuckered out by afternoon but I arrived almost on time and enjoyed unlimited show band the best kept band in the city and Kem just showed out and ministered his way to the people. I’m done. I just want to say “let the church say amen… God has spoken let the church say amen. Thank you Daddy. I’m on purpose and I love you MORE. Bless all my friends and I saw a plenty at the concert. AMEN”

The Kem concert introduced me to two amazing women that deserve nothing but the best.  Kimberly’s kind gestures and simple words to others, helped her get a girls night out with an amazing vocalist.  The lady that sat next to me at the concert was able to converse with me just enough to help me be a shoulder to cry on at just the right time.  As often as you feel like you know everyone in Louisville, there’s always someone else with a story you need to hear.  When’s the last time you said hello or struck up small talk with someone new? Someone probably tried to reach out to you today – but did you open yourself to listen?!

Perfect Valentine’s Day Date

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A Perfect Valentine’s Day Date

Feb10-3It was a lazy Saturday afternoon.  I was curled up in bed taking a pleasant nap.  Then the phone rang.  It wasn’t a number I recognized.  As I said hello, and older woman on the phone told me that her name was Betty and I had signed up to drive her to church on Sunday morning.

Crap, I thought to myself.  I volunteered to help drive people to church.  I received the email several weeks ago with the dates I was supposed to drive – but I never opened it.  I was partially bothered at the call because I had not planned on going to church on Sunday because of something else I had planned.  But as I pouted (in my mind) I continued to listen to Ms. Betty talk about how she doesn’t drive, and how she’ll be 89 in April and how she’s just so thankful that I will be able to drive her to church tomorrow.  I told her I would be proud to drive her to church and took down her address.  Then, I looked through my emails and saw “February 14, Michelle Yeager, Betty” Uggh.

I woke up earlier than normal in order drive to her house, still a little perturbed.  On the way, I decided to make the most of it and stop by Whole Foods where they had some beautiful flowers for sale.  As I pulled up to her house, she was already waiting outside.  I told Ms. Betty she’d have to turn around because I had some tulips for her for Valentine’s Day.  Her face beamed so bright.  You would have thought she won the lottery. She told me how precious I was and we went inside to find a vase.

On the drive to church, Ms. Betty told me that she was one of the founding members of my church.  (I was born and raised in my church so I’ve been there over 30 years).  She told me these amazing stories of when they met at the St. Matthews Women’s Club with the idea of forming a church and the different fundraisers they had.   I became mesmerized by her stories!  She told me past stories of parishioners that I have grown to know and love.

As we pulled into the church she asked if I would mind if we sat together.  I told her of course.  As we walked toward the sanctuary, we both spoke to people we know.  Ms. Betty bragged about me and I told people we were on a Valentine’s date.  After the service I drove her home and she wanted to spend more time talking to me.  She reflected on how grateful she was that I thought of her and spent time with her.   Although I couldn’t stay long (since I did have a real Valentine’s Day date later that day) she made my Valentine’s Day more meaningful than I ever would have imagined.

*On a side note – The Frankie Beverly/Maze and After 7 Concert was off the chain!  People were standing up and dancing in their seats on the main floor and in the balcony.  It was an old school party within a concert. (Now, some people shook a little more than they should have, but I won’t mention any names).  And, I’m sure I’m not the only one that walked out of the concert suddenly realizing that I had to work the next morning – thank goodness for snow days!

M.Y.  February 2010

Best Worst Concert

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The Best Worst Concert

Sept09-1Going to college in NC, I became a big fan of Luke and down south music.  Several years ago he came in concert the week of Derby.  I love his beats, especially “Scarred”  and knew I wouldn’t miss the show.

I arrived on time for the early evening weekday performance.  As I found a table by myself a guy (straight out of a rap video) walked up to me.  Grill full of gold and all.  I asked him his name, he said “Cujo”.  I told him I’m sure that’s not what his mother named him. His response, “Well, if you hang around me long enough, maybe you’ll find out my real name!”.  No thank you.

As the crowd started to arrive, I noticed a trend.  Ninety nine percent of the crowd were men.  The hours (plural) went by and there was still no Luke or any sign of him.  They asked from some female volunteers to go on stage.  The DJ played music and encouraged the women to strip for money.  At first the acted like they were embarrassed, but as soon as the music came on, they had no trouble participating.

I went toward the back of the room and found my original table.  Cujo walks back up to me and is looking around my feet.  I asked what is wrong and he doesn’t say anything.  I then look on the ground and see his grill lying there on the floor.  I say, “Is that what you’re looking for?”  He picks the grill off the floor, puts it right in his mouth and walks away.

Still no Luke.  The next musical interlude had a random guy from the audience run up on stage, grab a mic and start rapping.  After a couple of minutes, the cops came on stage and escorted him off.  As he tried to finish his song  (even while being dragged off) I looked closer and realized it was the guy I went with to Senior Prom.  Hmmm.

The next hour consisted of them playing a teaser of “It’s Your Birthday” and some woman getting on stage to show how well she could do the splits on a beer bottle.  By now it’s 1:00am and I am slowing starting to realize that I probably didn’t need to be there.  So, I walked to my car and had my own personal concert listening to Luke on CD.

M.Y.  September 2009

Pan-tee Dropper

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Pan-tee Dropper

Jul09-3You know I have always heard people use the above phrase, but never really knew what people were talking about.  It wasn’t until this week that I could see the significance of the term.

On Monday, Maxwell stormed into the Louisville Palace for a breath taking performance.   Now I’ll be one of the first to admit that I have never been a Maxwell lover.  I would classify it more as a Maxwell liker.  I’ve enjoyed some of his songs, but the thought of him has never made me shriek nor shiver.

The concert started late and then it took forever for intermission.  The crowd seemed to start falling asleep (it was a Monday night after all).  But as soon as Maxwell hit the stage, grown women starting screaming like their teenage children.  The entire crowd was on their feet.  Maxwell showed us that his hips still know how to groove and that his smile can still make you faint.  If you came for a show, you received your money’s worth.

Maxwell let you know that he was there for you.  It didn’t matter if you had been laid off, recently dumped or hated looking at yourself in the mirror.  Maxwell made you feel as if it was your personal concert.  He made you feel sexy.  He took your mind off everything else.   Maxwell, plainly and simply, was a panty dropper.  He could have asked for anything he wanted and easily received it.

The women in the audience weren’t the only ones who benefitted from the performance.  Several couples sat in front of me.  It was interesting to watch the men.  As the women stood up and swayed to the smooth grooves, the men also sat there with a smile on their face.  Not only did they enjoy watching their women move, but they knew their women were now in the mood and Maxwell was just the appetizer to the full course waiting at home.

Louisville has some wonderful artists coming to the area.  Treat yourself to one of the performances.  You deserve it!

M.Y. July 2009