Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 10:45 am

ACL Day Three

I am woozy and sleepy and groggy this morning even after my first cup of coffee. What a long intense weekend. I'm glad it is over for another year.

ACLFest 2004 was a big success for the promoters, but it is becoming less important for our station, I can see. With more and more people coming from out of town, it is not as necessary for us to be there to toot our own horn. I wonder if we'll even bother next year?

Yesterday, Sunday, was a lot better than the other days. I was dreading leaving the house and going down there again, but the weather was much better. Apparently the high temperature for Sunday and Saturday were the same, but it sure felt cooler with clouds and a breeze. Maybe it was just better out there in the park instead of our media "oven" backstage? Whatever, once I got there, I enjoyed myself a lot on Sunday.

I got there and heard a little bit of Elvis Costello. I believe you could experience it in much the same way if you watched an Elvis DVD on a 2 inch handheld screen in bright daylight and had a friend put on his greatest hits CD in the car and drive around the block with it up loud and the windows rolled down. The sound was very bad from the wind through his show so I figured I'd listen to a CD later and I moved on.

I saw a little of Bobby Bare Jr.'s set. He's a good friend of Jack's and I haven't seen him before. He was very bizarre. I'd like to experience more because he is so odd, but I would like to hear more of his country side.

After a couple of songs there I had to go to introduce Jack on the rock island stage. Wonderful to see him, of course. He said he'd met with our new boss and began smoothing the path there for a good relationship. He was in the office Friday, but I missed his set.

I did the intro and they had a great show. I went out and watched it with a couple of our salespeople and my old wonderful boss. We were very close to the stage. The crowds weren't nearly as big on Sunday. The paper said there were 70,000, but it felt much smaller than that.

Later Jack said he could see us watching him and he really liked that. Believe me, I liked it from our vantage point.

We all moved on over to the big stage for Pat's big show. I separated from the group and went to do the intro. It was a lot more close security and "big time" on that stage. No opportunity to say hi to the band or hang. Cool to see the crowd from that vantage point with the skyline in the background.

Did the intro and got on offstage. Jack and Chris from his band were there, Cory was there, Ray Benson was there. Didn't visit... I don't like hanging backstage much. I moved out front so I could hear.

I was about to leave at that point. I've seen Pat many times. But then I realized that Pat had come and shared the stage on one song with Jack, so obviously Jack would be sharing the stage with Pat (or it was a good bet at least). Then I found an abandoned chair, so I settled in. Pat did have Cory onstage for Texas on My Mind, Ray on stage for Elvis, and then Jack for One Thing. The sound was much better for Pat than for Elvis Costello. The winds were calmer. The sunset was beautiful. Pat brought out wife Kory and baby Kellis (sweet!). Pat was pretty full of himself, but he's always been like that. The show didn't seem to have the energy of the last two years' shows, but I wasn't drinking either and it was daylight. That all makes a difference.

I left during the final song, Wave On Wave, and made it home by 8:30. Mark came in about midnight from his gig and he was awfully glad to be back home after a long weekend away.

Now it is back to work and deal with the new boss and get back to a routine once again.

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Older Entries
Book Club - Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014
A Good Saturday Ahead - Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014
Back to Work - Monday, Jan. 06, 2014
The New Year Arrives - Wednesday, Jan. 01, 2014
Engaged - Monday, Dec. 30, 2013
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