Welcome back everyone! How have you been since last time we were here? Well I have been on cloud nine! That is exactly what I am going to talk about in this commentary. No mooshy crap, no griping, no whining just a description of one of the best weekends in quite a while.

It all started after work on Thursday when I went and checked out a new vehicle. A 1995 Ford Bronco. You know the full size SUV with the rear roof that pops off. I fell in love and was excited by the price. It was a great deal to say the least. Well I have nearly everything set up on it but it is not in my posession just yet. So I found the vehicle I was wanting to start off the weekend.

Then it was on to Friday and the day I had been waiting for for a while now. The day of the Zwan concert! I started out the day by hooking up with Pat and Nicole for awhile in the morning. We hung out and talked and played games. Then at about 1:00 P.M. I began my trip to Colombia, MO to meet up with Pat Meek and hit the Zwan concert. It was a hell of a drive and it made me realize that it was going to be a long night because after the concert I had to drive to Springfield, IL to hook up with Pat, Nicole, Toni, and Bootie. Anyway after three and a half hours I finally arrived at Meeker's Apartment. We then headed to a chinese restaurant to grab supper and then to the Blue Note to get reasy for the show. We got there over an hour and a half early and people were already lined up around the building. We got in line and were right next to Zwan's tour bus. Then it happened at about a half hour before the doors opened the back door of the club swung open. Meeker and I looked over and saw the man walking by with his slightly hunched shoulders and stocking cap perched on his bald head. Pat turned to me and said "Isn't that Bi...?" and after seeing the look on my face said "Nevermind." My face looked like that of a 14 year old girls when seeing N'Sync. Billy Corgan, my Idol, had just walked less than 20 feet away from me and I had seen him, but was too stunned to even say a word. My jaw had hung open and even after he had disappeared into the tour bus I had still stood there with that look on my face. I never thought would ever be so close to him in such a normal surrounding in my life. I was suddenly on a natural high. We finally made our way into the Blue Note and were surprised to find that we could pretty damn close to the stage. So we filed up to as close as we could get. We ended up being within 20 feet after the crowd's customary surge toward the stage when Zwan stepped on the stage. From there on it was heaven on earth and Corgan was the god. At one point in the show the new bassist Paz said something to Billy after a kick ass guitar solo and Billy just looked at her and flipped his pick over his shoulder stuck his hand back and caught it without ever looking away from her. He then instantly went straight back to playing but cracked up laughing when he began to sing. Later in the show he began speaking with David Pajo with how he pronounces his name. Billy would say "Pajo" and David would say "No" this went on for nearly 2 minutes but was hilarious. Then Jack Sweeney griped about the picks not even saying Zwan on them. Billy turned to him and said "yeah I used to play in this band, you might have heard of them. We had a lot of picks left over. Your lucky you got the James Iha collection." He then turned to Jimmy Chamberlain on drums and smiled and stuck his finger to his mouth like "Shhh." Simple things like that are what make concerts so enjoyable, it all is natural and fun. None of that preplanned orchestrated crap (N'Sync, Backstreet Boyz, Britney, all the crap music). I was completely enthralled with the mastery Billy had of the guitar. The whole band rocks now we just have to beg them to release a studio album to go with all the boots. Zwan frigging rocked all damn night!

After the concert it was time to drop Meeker back off at his apartment and start on my way to Springfield, IL. It was 11:30 P.M. and earlier in the day I was worried about being tired on the way there but not after going to the show. After the show I was on a natural rush. I hauled serious butt all the way to Springfield and walked into the hotel room at 3:30 A.M. Pat, Nicole, Bootie, and Toni were all still up waiting for me. They opened the door and handed me a beer. They then listened to me ramble on and on about the concert for about a half hour. Then I walked into the bathroom and when I walked back out everyone was asleep accept Nicole. So she and I sat up and talked all night. I was drinking to catch up with everyone and to try and calm me down to go to sleep but it didn't happen. Instead Nicole and I got out the video camera and started messing with all the snoozers. It was hilarious and we finally got Toni up at 6 A.M. and then harassed Bootie and Pat. When everyone was finally up we all went to the Convention Center to watch the Dart tournaments. I learned a valuable lesson that day, No sleep and beer do not mix. At about 2:30 I retreated to the room to fall asleep until about 7:00 P.M. Then I got back up and joined the rest of them at the Convention Center again. Then it was to bar hopping and finally back to the hotel to hang out with everyone. Everyone wasw bowing out on me early so I went over to the Hilton's 30th floor club and listened to the Jazz band for an hour before retiring for the night. We all got up the next morning and had a nice calm day of watching darts and being together before we headed home. The way home was great surprisingly. We were pacing each other taking pictures back and forth between cars and just having a good time. We got back and I headed home to unpack. I got done with that and sat down and realized there was no way in hell I could just sit there. So I hopped and joined Bootie, Toni, and Dominic to watch a movie. Then back to my house to meet Ozzy and hang with him for a while.

Then Monday came a long and was my last day off. I went to the bank and talked about a loan for the Bronco got approved and then chilled for the rest of the day. That night I went to Bootie's and Toni's for wrestling. Jody got back from Florida and stop by to visit us all. Pat and Nicole showed up and Toni made us all homemade pizza. Then Pat, Nicole, Bootie, Toni, Ozzy, and Dominic all just hung out for the night.

Then came the drive to work this morning that let me know that the weekend of excitement, fun, craziness, and joy was over and it was back to the real world. The drive sucked because the weekend was so good and because I knew that on Thursday I would be heading down to Mexico City. That is one of my least likes places to go but it is my job so I will go. Unfortunately I will be missing out on a follow up weekend with my friends. That is okay though because I know they will all be there for me for many weekends to come. I also know there will be more friends in the weekends to come and hopefully one friend will come back to our weekends. I miss having that friend around and I kinda hope they miss it too.

Here's to many more good times to be enjoyed by all!

Later,
Coopedaddy

Who needs movies when you have a concert like I had?