Erin bought Stephen and I tickets to the Eddie Vedder concert (Stephen's Valentine's Day present) that took place in Dallas last Thursday. The concert was originally scheduled for April, but Eddie suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery and he was unable to play. Eddie Vedder is a personal hero of mine, so needless to say I was extremely excited about the show.
Something funny to note: Originally, the concert was set for April, and Stephen received the tickets in February. A couple of months passed and one night I was watching TV with L. and I noticed that it was already May. I yelled, "SHIT!!! I missed Eddie Vedder! What the F... was I thinking!!!"
I called Stephen to tell him the horrible news and he calmly said, "We didn't miss the show. It got postponed for November."
Obviously, I was relieved to hear this. Seven months went by and L. and I were once again watching TV. Out of nowhere she suddenly yelled, "OH MY GOD, when is the Vedder concert!?" I looked at my phone and realized it was already November. I yelled, "SHIT! Who misses the Eddie Vedder concert TWICE!!!"
This time L. looked online and discovered that the show was four days away. I decided to set four alarms, 1 for each day, so that I would not miss the concert a third time.
The day of the concert arrived. I brought to work a compilation CD of music I thought Vedder might play so that I could get familiar with his acoustic/ukelele songs I did not know so well. In my morning status meeting I informed the people I work with that I was leaving promptly at 5p to see Eddie Vedder at Fair Park. I work will all girls, and 5 out of the 6 of these girls looked at me quizzically and said, "Who is Eddie Vedder?" I wasn't sure if this was a joke or not. The girls I work with range in age from early twenties to early thirties. I am thirty five years old and am definitely older than the people I work with. However, I did not think me so old that the dominate American cultural influence in my life could be completely unknown to an entire team of young workers.
I was wrong.
I feel like I am an old man holding on to the important things from my youth. I feel crotchety. I feel like the kids of today have no idea. I feel like the people I work with are unaware of something seriously significant. And I feel like there is little I can do!
I went to the show and was impressed with the performance. Vedder still has it, and I felt privileged to be in the same room as him. I drank a lot of scotch. And when the show ended I spent 3 hours burning every relevant Pearl Jam song for the 7 coworkers who had no idea who Vedder or Pearl Jam was!
