Harry Connick Jr. in concert… phenomenal. Everything I expected AND MORE. Our seats were SO close that we could have touched him SEVERAL times during the concert. It was amazing. I would see him again in a heartbeat (and there aren’t a lot of concerts I can say that about). He was funny, energetic, and so amazingly talented. It was the most perfect concert. And, the band… some of the most talented musicians I have ever heard, absolutely mind blowing!

The house was completely sold out! They didn’t rip our tickets at the door like they used to do. Instead they just scanned them in… so I still have our tickets, perfect, and intact… I’m definitely saving them.

My sister works down at the concert venue for different concerts. Usually she does the lighting and some of the sound work, sometimes she helps load the equipment in and out. Yesterday she loaded in and out and… ACTUALLY GOT TO MEET HARRY AND HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH HIM!

Wow. Anyway, from all accounts he is very nice, polite, funny and extremely down-to-earth. He ate in the dining room with all of his road crew, band, and venue employees. He worked out on a treadmill backstage. This is apparently very unusual because most of the time the “talent” doesn’t associate with their own road crew, let alone the people working at the concert venue.

He did a few songs from the “Only You” CD and mixed in a lot of other songs (like a rendition of “Your Cheatin’ Heart” which was AMAZING!) and “Bourbon Street Parade” which was awesome. He also mixed in several instrumentals that just hypnotized the audience.

There are rumblings that he might be back next year… Woo-hoo!!!!

After a really sweet Valentine’s Day - just when I thought things couldn’t get any better…

To say I am excited would be a major understatement. I’m absolutely over the moon. Not only am I getting a date night with my husband, but I am getting to see Harry Connick Jr. live in concert. A date night just doesn’t get any more romantic than this! Dinner and a concert… but a Harry Connick Jr. concert WOW! WOW!!!

I have wanted to see Harry in concert since I was 14! This is absolutely unbelievable!

I can still remember sitting on the couch in the livingroom (on Doris Ln. - my grandparent’s house that my mom, sister, and I were living in) watching VH1 (back when VH1 actually used to play MUSIC and decent music at that. Now they won’t even play Harry or Amy Grant !@#$!@%$#) when “Recipe For Love” came on and I was absolutely hooked. I had just recently seen “When Harry Met Sally” and thought it was the most awesome movie on the planet (still do, it’s one of my all-time favorites) and I really loved all the music. While the music in the movie is sung mostly by some of the original artists (except for the scene with “I Could Write A Book” which is sung by Harry) - the soundtrack is ALL Harry and it is one of my favorite CDs!

When “Songs I Heard” was released a couple of years ago, my husband bought it for me for Christmas. The whole family really got a kick out of it… it’s a collection of many of my favorite childhood songs all redone in a way that “grown ups” can really enjoy them. Songs from “Mary Poppins” “Annie” “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” even a rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” which is absolutely stunning.

I have to admit, I’m still in shock. I remember reading this article about “Ultimate Romantic Dates” or something like that and one of the top dates suggested was dinner and tickets to a Harry Connick Jr. concert - at the time I was single and I remember thinking, wow, that would be so romantic, I’d love to do that. And, now, I am… with one of the most romantic guys on the planet, my husband! It just does NOT get ANY better than this…

There are very few people that I really want to see in concert and unfortunately, most of them are no longer with us. Harry Connick Jr. was at the absolute top of that list, had I not gotten tickets (a birthday present from my Dad) this would have been one of those occasions when I would have been absolutely sick the night of the concert over the thought of missing it, to the best of my knowledge, Harry hasn’t actually done a concert here before… so this is absolutely amazing.

One of the more ridiculous things I’ve heard recently.

Not that it is much of a surprise given that this is the very same (backward) state that took a two year old boy away from his mother because she was gay. And, let’s make this clear, this mother didn’t DO anything wrong, a court found her UNFIT because she was gay.

Now Virginia is fining people who wear their pants low. Look, I’m no fan of the sagging pants, there are a lot of cool boxers out there on the market today - but that doesn’t mean I want to see them in action poking out the top of pair of pants by some sullen looking teenager who is slouching around on his way to wherever. And, just because I don’t happen to care for the way it looks does NOT mean that I think there should be some LAW against it.

And, before you begin to think, “Well, I can’t stand the way that looks - so good!”

Beware!!!!

At one point it was highly inappropriate for women to wear pants. Remember, it was a BIG deal when Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore, The Dick Van Dyke Show) began wearing CAPRIS *gasp* during ONE segment of each show.

This type of law can snowball…

What next? Hairstyles that people find offensive? Stomach-baring shirts? Tops that are too tight? Bikinis on public beaches?

Look, there are some guys who wear speedos at the beach who just SHOULDN’T. I know, I live in California and I’ve SEEN it… it’s NOT pretty. That is more offensive than a teenager with a sagging behind.

For YEARS people have made jokes about “plumber’s butt” (guys who bend over and their rear-end sans underwear is exposed) and you don’t see these ultra-conservative Virginians rushing out to outlaw this one, do you?

Shortly after typing the plumber’s butt comment above I found that Dan Abrams mentioned the same thing in his commentary I’m glad to know that I’m not the only person who considered this as well.

Unfortunately, this law also leaves it up to the police to determine if someone is intentionally showing their underwear. Really? So, now the police are being allowed to play judge and jury?
Isn’t this an invitation to openly practice racial profiling?

What’s worse is that there is ACTUAL time being spent and TAXPAYER’S money being WASTED so that this can be DEBATED.

Freedom is a slippery thing… and once it begins being chipped away at, no matter how small the fracture appears to be, the crack (pardon the pun) will continue to grow.