Icing On The Cake

Promoter/pastor/psychologist: Jesse Sena invited me back to Pueblo again but this time offered to fly my wife out for a little RnR. We took him up on it. My first “Fly Date” with my wife. She traveled better than I thought she would. Of course a three day trip requires an 80 lb. suitcase!

We got there a day early to find freezing temperatures and I was thinking maybe I should have packed a little heavier too. Still we strolled the Riverwalk and the antique side of town. Watched it snow a little, and spent time at a local spa. She was in heaven there.

Saturday, I stopped by the Outpost Harley Davidson Dealer. We tried to line up an official HOGWASH signing event but could not make that happen on short notice. So I dropped a book by the owners office and drooled on a few bikes. And I found some summer riding gloves “half off”. The place was packed mostly for the “heated suit” sale.

The icy cold weather might have been a deterrent for some. But the concert at the Performing Arts Center downtown came off in top flight fashion. Great concert venue and a very intimate setting. “I played em all the old stuff”. I threw in several new guitar driven tunes and finished with the latest from Still Dancin’. I talked alot too.. about the changes in my life and how amazing it is that God sometimes has to pull the rug out from under you to give you something better.

Concerts for me these days come with a great deal of personal insight. “I’m one of those who’ve been there and done that” I told someone back stage. There is an overall lack of a  ‘need to impress’ now a days. Presentations feel more like an afterglow, talking about adjusting to new changes, and what God is like to me now. I see the audience more like a group of fellow survivors of hardships and misunderstandings of by gone days.

Gone is that hero worship, celebrity impression, and show off arrogance. The fact was Pueblo was a living room experience from top to bottom. The songs were the stories of my journey to date. And I met real people. I almost invited six of the singers with the opening band, on stage to sing with with me. (they were singing along anyway) the local talent was great!

Sunday morning I made a surprise visit to a local pentecostal flag waving church. The pastor, a transplant from Southern California, gave me most of the service after introducing me as part of his own testimony of salvation and discovery of music to live by. And the feeling was pretty much the same as the night before. Relaxed, insightful, surprising even to me. I offered an unassuming service to a local body of believers.

On the way to the airport in Colorado Springs we drove through the Garden of the Gods, a spectacular assortment of free standing other worldly rock formations. all the trees were tinseled with ice, giving it that almost Christmas feel.

The jokes on the way to the airport were non stop and the laughter never stopped. It was that healing kind of celebration that is so good for the soul. It never felt like work to me. How honored I am to still do what I have done for most of my life. Especially seeing the value from a higher perspective than ever before. I am truely grateful for the untold blessings of a life enriched with insight and perspective.