How sweet it is ...

… I’m feeling so exhausted tonight I want to cry …

… I had a couple of free tickets to see OAR at The Rave tonight. I’d been looking forward all weekend to getting a second shot at seeing the band I fell in love with the minute I first saw them live last spring … But after being out late Friday night and being up even later last night, and then today’s full slate of events -- church activities, an afternoon with the in-laws -- the notion of driving the hour to Milwaukee, sitting through two opening acts I hardly cared for, dealing with the college-aged crowd OAR draws and returning home with ringing ears was hardly appealing …

Darn. It could’ve been a blast …

… So here I am. Lying on my favorite couch, wrapped in a blanket, laptop in my lap and Game 2 of the World Series on the TV …

It’s OK. Last night, we saw a legend …

* * *

… I learned a few weeks ago James Taylor had announced the Chicago Theatre as one the stops on his “One Man Band” tour. Kates has been a JT fan for as long as I’ve known her, she wished to see him every time his name came up. We missed him at Summerfest a couple years ago, and again last spring when he stopped in Chicago.

I had to pull the trigger this time. I jumped on it the Saturday morning tickets went on sale. And then sealed my lips.

… Even while I went on a kick of listening to James Taylor for several days in a row. For days I had “Your Smiling Face” playing in my head. And on one afternoon I walked to meet Kates at a downtown joint for lunch, humming the song all the way -- funny thing, the moment I walked in the door of the coffee shop, the song was starting up on stereo. Crazy!

… So on Saturday the big night arrived, and Kates, knowing only that we were going to a show of some kind, looked beautiful. … Before leaving the house, I sweetened the deal -- it was Sweetest Day, after all -- a little bit with a Hallmark card and James Taylor’s new Christmas CD …

“Is this a hint!?” Kates said.

I couldn’t keep the secret any longer and handed her the tickets.

* * *
We drove to Chicago with James Taylor on the iPod all the way …

… Unfortunately, we didn’t time the drive and pre-show dinner plans as well as we should have …

… We parked the car at the theater district parking garage and trekked to Bennigan’s for dinner …

The show was scheduled to start at 8 p.m. We were seated at our table about 7:20 and ordered our food immediately, telling the waiter we were on a tight schedule. The food arrived at our table about 7:35, and the throwing down began … The food was great, we were just sorry we couldn’t enjoy it more. By 7:55, we were paying for our food, throwing on our coats and rushing out the door, walking as fast as our full stomachs would allow …

… At almost exactly 8:00 we were walking up to the theater with barely enough time to enjoy the splendor of seeing the words JAMES TAYLOR ONE MAN BAND lit up on the famous marquee. … Luckily we weren’t the only ones showing up late. The theater lobby was still packed with people asking the ushers for directions to their seats.

Soon enough Kates and I found our seats in the theater’s balcony, a perfect view overlooking the stage …

Then the lights dimmed …

* * *

Applause took over the auditorium the moment Taylor appeared from behind the red curtains at center stage. Waving to the crowd, he walked to the front of the stage, shook hands with some of the front row fans and generously signed a few autographs. After a couple minutes, Taylor took his seat on a stool and reached for his guitar, tuning it as the crowd continued yelling the obligatory “We love you, James!” song requests and, well, requests for other things too …

“Well I‘m certainly enjoying this back and forth with you tonight,” Taylor said. From that point and for the rest of the evening it was very apparent that Taylor’s sense of humor and wit is charming and entertaining as his music …

Finally, some of the guitar strumming that accompanies that classic baritone voice. Taylor opened with “Something In the Way She Moves,” his voice still sounding as good as it did on some of his first albums …

Beginning with the second number, Taylor was joined by Larry Goldings on piano, adding accompaniments that were sometimes jazzy, and always wonderful. And while Goldings sat at the piano to Taylor’s right, a screen on Taylor’s left served as the launch pad for the songs he performed. He used the screen to show pictures of the frozen man he once saw in a National Geographic magazine, gorgeous landscapes and country scenes, family photos, home movies and Richard Nixon. At one point during the show, Taylor clicked through shots of him with pals Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and other members of his 70s band -- their long, stringy hair and the men’s dark, bushy mustaches prompting Taylor to quip, “This is what happens when you don’t have mirrors.”

But aside from the pleasure of simply listening to Taylor, there wasn’t much for the audience to get excited about during the first set, which was filled with Taylor’s lesser known and newer songs, including “The Frozen Man” and “My Traveling Star.” He concluded the first set, however, with an amped-up, bluesy rendition of “Steamroller,” bopping all over the stage and dropping to his knees every few bars while his electric guitar cried out …

After a 20-minute intermission, during which I survived a long line for the men’s room and didn’t even dare get in the drink line that was even longer, we were back to our seats. Taylor returned to the stage the same way he took it to start the show, greeting fans in the front row and signing autographs. But this time, Taylor spent so much time with fans prior to beginning his second set that the audience appeared to get restless and a security officer eventually had to shoo away the fans who were now leaving their seats and coming up to the stage for a chance to snag a quick autograph from Taylor…

Finally, Taylor was seated again, showing those snapshots of him and his pals, and explaining how he taught himself to play “You’ve Got A Friend” by listening to Carole King perform it. He then kicked off his second set with his rendition of the song.

The second set quickly turned into a parade of hits that included the beautiful “Sweet Baby James” (the song, Taylor explained, was actually written for his nephew), “Country Road,” “Shower The People,” “Secret O’ Life,” and “Line ‘Em Up” (a song Taylor said he was inspired to write after watching Nixon -- whose walk he compared to common poster illustrations depicting Cro-Magnon man -- resign and walk to his waiting helicopter amid a line of White House staff …)
Taylor ended the second set with “Carolina In My Mind” and left the stage …

Clearly there were still songs to be played, however, and the audience did their best to let him know it -- three more times, practially standing, applauding and cheering for the remainder of the show.

Taylor returned to stage again, signing yet a few more autographs for the fans lucky enough to be near the stage. Then he took his seat once more and played “Fire And Rain.”

Taylor left the stage and repeated the sequence another time -- return to stage, sign autographs, play song -- with “Copperline.” And one final encore with “You Can Close Your Eyes,” which, lyrically, seemed to be a perfect cap to the evening.

(… I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to hear my two most favorite Taylor tunes -- “Your Smiling Face” and “Mexico” … a group of 30-something guys walking out of the theater alongside Kates and I must’ve been feeling the same way. They tried filling the void for all of us by singing “Smiling Face” on their own. It wasn’t nearly as good as Taylor would’ve done, but it held up …)

( ... From a critial standpoint, these other views from the Daily Southown and the Tribune are almost dead on in their descriptions of the show and the mood ... both reviewers mention the tank-like drum machine -- which I didn't mention here -- that Taylor used on two songs ... I disagree, however, with the Tribune writer on the use of the recorded choir to accompany “My Traveling Star” and “Shower The People.” Although the choir added a little to “Star,” the extra vocals drowned Taylor and ruined “Shower the People.”)

* * *

Driving home, I fought not fire, but rain. A hard, pounding rain. … Not so fun.

A pit stop midway at the Oasis for some caffeine and Kates I continued home, still listening to James Taylor on the iPod and rehashing our favorite points of the concert …

Back at home, Kates night was over, but mine wasn’t. While she curled up and fell asleep next to me on the couch, I switched on the DVR and watched Game 1 of the series as though it was being played right then and there at 2 in the morning -- commercial-free, of course.

The Tigers lost ... but Joe Buck, as promised on Friday night's Conan, wore LaBamba's tie -- HA-larious!

I finally got myself to bed around 4 a.m.

No wonder I’m so tired …