So Hywel must have thought we were OK people as about half way into our day in New Jersey he invited us to Wales in July 2010 to help celebrate Ceinwen’s birthday party.
Not so Sinead and Steve’s children. When they heard that their mum and dad were sharing a cottage for the weekend with two (more or less) strangers they advised caution in case we were mass murderers. Sinead and Steve are still alive and we are about to meet up again in November so any reservations were unfounded.
I had never been to Wales so we decided to make our trip into a long weekend. We had booked a local guest house, so had Sinead and Steve but in the end the cottage was a far better idea and it meant we could put up another Springsteen fan in the third bedroom for a night.
The celebrations lasted all weekend. We had dinner at a local restaurant Friday evening where we met two new Springsteen fans. The others already knew Joyce and Kevin but our paths had never crossed before. Had a great evening and made more new friends thanks to Bruce.
On Saturday we popped to Llandeilo for a pub lunch. What a pretty little town.
We browsed around the shops to burn off a few calories. So we didn’t feel so bad about the totally unnecessary but delicious ice cream we forced down on our way back to the car.
To Saturday night and the main event - a big party at Llandybie Rugby Club complete with a fabulous buffet (yes more food) and Mark Wright on stage for hours. Most of us know Mark through the Badlands parties. He is a big Bruce fan and a great musician in his own right. He’s also an Elvis impersonator!
Doesn’t do Bruce impersonations though. He just does great versions of almost any track we care to throw at him.
We had a great time hamming it up on the dance floor - pumping our fists and singing along, probably, to the absolute bemusement of the non Bruce fans at the party. We hadn’t made any signs so Mike improvised with a serviette and was rewarded with ‘All The Way Home‘.
But ... the star of the show was our very own host Hywel Richards who duetted with Mark on 'Fire' We suspected he would have a good singing voice because, after all he is, Welsh. It's a big birthday of Mike's in a couple of years (not saying which one). Thinking of booking Hywel to do a turn but failing that Mark Wright will do!
Made yet another Bruce friend that night - Hi John if you are reading this - who stayed in our cottage overnight.
Sunday we had a barbecue in the rain at Ceinwen and Hywell’s with the added bonus of entertainment from the children... and to top off an amazing weekend we spent the evening watching their Blu Ray of Bruce in Hyde Park. Well Bruce had to join us at some point! Ahhh happy days.
It was a fabulous weekend. I haven't had so much fun in ages. Looking forward to getting together again soon.
Bruce wasn’t idle during July. He couldn't make it to Wales but he did put in an appearance at The Stone Pony to sing with Alessandro Escovedo.
I was never a big Rolling Stones fan in my youth. I can’t pretend I wasn’t alive during their hey day in the sixties but I can admit to being very young. A typical child and young teen I preferred something a bit lighter than The Stones: something to sing along to. So given a choice between the two big bands of the sixties I would go for The Beatles.
As I have got older and my taste has become more eclectic I have come to appreciate them more. We have the Forty Licks album and although I was familiar with most of the tracks there were a few I didn’t know. Beast of Burden was one of them. I really like the song and this version is great but I do worry a bit about the way Alessandro looks at Bruce when he sings. 'All I want is for you to make love to me'
And to round off this week - launched in July 2010 what about a pair of these?
... the Nike SB Dunk High with a colorway taken off the classic American Rock album ‘Born In The U.S.A.’ by Bruce Springsteen, who is better known as ‘The Boss’ by the 40-somethings of our generation. The mix of denim, white, blue, and red takes after Springsteen’s all-American outfit consisting of a white t-shirt, jeans, and baseball cap, with the red-and-white striped ankle padding taking from the patriotic backdrop of the album artwork. Springsteen’s music takes after his experiences during life in his hometown Freehold Borough in New Jersey, . These are set to release on July 3rd on the eve of Independence Day…
No comments:
Post a Comment