Of course, the event wasn't really at Hancher because Hancher has been closed ever since the flood of 2008! C'mon U of Iowa...this is getting a bit ridiculous. It's been three years, and I still see no movement on getting Hancher rebuilt.
Anyway, for years, I have saved my tickets to events that I attend. I don't know exactly why I started this, but I have a big glass jar with one of those hermetic-sealed lids that I toss all of my tickets into. Every time I have moved over the course of the past 25+ years, I think I should just let it go and toss them. But, I continue to cart them around with me. So, today, as I was about to plop my Take 6 ticket into the jar, I took a little trip down memory lane to reminisce on what I've seen during a period equal to HALF my life. (OK, that's weird to think about...)
1986: I was still living in Texas and clearly was still in my "country" phase. On January 31, 1986 I attended the Fat Stock Show at Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth. I wasn't all that interested in the Fat Sock...but, yum, cowboys in Wranglers and ropers! Enough said! I'm sure we hit the cowboy bars near the stockyards after the show. I was with my friend Donna on this night, and she had invited three friends of hers to join us. There was Perry, who was a former Miss Montana (for real) and a friend of Donna's from college and her friend. To say that Miss Montana was not digging the other two chicks would be putting it mildly. Later that night, when we got back to Donna's, she called her boyfriend and described them as "the two skankiest women she had ever met."
1986 - 1989: I've graduated from college and am now living the single girl career life in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Evidently, going to Twins' games was cheap entertainment for us. I have a whole slew of Twins tickets. The cheap seats were 5 bucks. We probably paid more for the beer. I also attended a number of Iowa basketball games and football games. Apparently, it was easy to get tickets via the U of M back them. Those tickets were pretty cheap, too. 10 bucks. Those were the glory days of Hayden Fry and Tom Davis, when we could count on Iowa to kill the Gophers, and Roy Marble was, well, not in the news on a regular basis for substance abuse issues.
On February 22, 1989 I saw Robert Goulet in South Pacific. I can still hear him singing "Some enchanted evening....." I remember that he was very short and wore platform shoes.
1989 - 1997: I moved back to Iowa and met Grayling. It's easy to see that my entertainment choices changed here. No more Iowa or Twins games. Oh, wait, I take that back. On July 9, 1994, we went to a Twins vs Cleveland Indians game because we got comped tickets from Kenny Lofton. That was an interesting night. Grayling and Kenny went to high school together, and another of their classmates was at the game compliments of Kenny. He brought his baby and her mother, along with the mother's son from a previous relationship. The little boy was like 5, and the guy wouldn't buy him anything at the game! He bought his daughter popcorn, pop, whatever. It annoyed Grayling and I so much, that we ended up buying the kid stuff. When Grayling asked his friend why he wasn't buying the little boy anything he replied, "he ain't my kid." Whatever, idiot! Also from this era, tickets to Boyz II Men; Blues Music Festival with BB King, Etta James, and Jimmy Vaughn; the Manhattans; Cincinnati Jazz Festival; New Edition (sans Bobby Brown -- that was a terrible concert! They sang for all of about 45 minutes); Aretha Franklin; Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk (with Savion Glover tap dancing); more BB King; Indiana Pacers vs Charlotte Hornets.
I also saw Donny Osmond in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat in Chicago." Fabulous! Donny was still a little bit rock and roll. I went with my mom, brother, and sister in law -- not Grayling, duh!
1999 - present: I moved back to Iowa City, and without Grayling's daily influence and with my work travel schedule, once again my entertainment choices changed. This is kind of my "Broadway" phase, I've seen a number of shows both on Broadway and other venues, including: Tony & Tia's Wedding; We Will Rock You; 700 Sundays; Movin' Out; Hairspray; and Little Mermaid.
During a work trip to Vegas, we were given comp tickets to see "Jubilee" at Bally's. I think it's the longest running topless show in Vegas. I have to say...it was incredible. The costumes are designed by Bob Mackie. I felt transported back to the days of the Rat Pack. It was classic, and, really, the topless part was very secondary. A top notch show.
Speaking of rat pack, I took my parents to see Tony Bennett at Hancher on September 28, 2002...back when Hancher was a great venue! If I recall correctly, it was Hancher's 30th anniversary celebration. "I left my heart, in San Francisco..."
I saw two former presidents during this time -- Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, who were guests for the U of Iowa Lecture Series. I don't care what anyone says, they will remain my two favorite presidents.
Don't worry, Grayling wasn't totally out of the picture. There are more BB King tickets, Monk on Monk, more Etta James.
On January 7, 2007, I saw "Bodies, The Exhibition" in New York. This is a kind of freaky traveling exhibit of cadavers, which shows the musculoskeletal structures of the bodies in various positions. It's a somewhat controversial exhibit because some believe that the bodies are from Chinese prisoners who have died and the families did not consent to have the bodies displayed. Of course, the exhibit insists that this isn't the case. Still, it was disturbing and fascinating all at the same time.
So, back in the jar my tickets will go. It's a little window into my life. Tickets to the destinations in my so-called life journey. When I'm old and gray, I can hold these tickets in my hands and try and recall these moments and the friends with whom I have shared these times.
After my Grandma Scherrman died, we found a whole box of "stuff" in her attic from her various travels. Hotel receipts, menus from restaurants, train tickets, postcards she had written home to my dad and his sisters from these trips. I put all these mementos in a binder because it made me feel like I got to know my grandma as a younger woman because of this. Maybe Carter or Carter's kids will find these tickets 50 years from now and say, "Wow, Aunt Carol really got out and enjoyed life."
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