Music For The Monday Morning After

Style Shout Out to Pete Yorn who put on a fabulous show at the Granada Theater.


Saturday night my hubby and I headed to the Granada Theater in Dallas with my sister and brother-in-law to see Pete Yorn.   Over the past few years I have been to several concerts.  My sisters and I always see BonJovi when they come to town.  It has become a tradition and my one sister who lives in LA flies in for the event.  I also saw U2 for the first time and they lived up to every expectation.

As I began writing today, I realized that our eight year old has had a major impact on our concert and event choices in recent years.   I kid you not we have been to: the High School Musical concert with Ashley Tisdale, the HSM ice show,  The Cheetah Girls, The Jonas Brothers (2 times), The American Idol Season 9 tour, The Camp Rock tour featuring the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez.  She has been to a meet & greet with Jennifer Stone, a CD signing with Mitchel Musso, and a taping of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place.  Now I must admit the Jonas Brothers were fun for me because in a round about way we're related to their drummer Jack Lawless but that is a story for another day.

So when I saw that Pete Yorn was going to be in town I suggested to my hubby that we go and he was in total agreement.

Recently I wrote about Pete Yorn's 10th Anniversary CD Music For The Morning After and I honestly can't believe it's been that long since the CD was released.  My daughter has grown up listening to Pete by my choice and recently on the way to school when she chose to listen to "Life On A Chain" instead of Justin Bieber I asked, "Why Pete?"  To which she replied, "You always talk about expanding my musical horizons so that I can become a better musician, so I am...and his voice is really cool!"

My daughter really wanted to go to the concert with us so I had to explain that although the Granada Theater is an amazing place to see a concert, it's not a place for an eight year old to see a concert.  She understood and said that she would have fun with her cousins and Mimi and Poppy but she had some very important questions to ask Pete about music.   There is something so magical about this age and I didn't want to burst her bubble so I told her that if we got to see him I would try to get her some answers.  As she sat down with her pen and paper I couldn't believe some of her questions:

"How old were you when you wrote your first song?"
"When you write a song do you write the music or the lyrics first, or at the same time?"
"Did you take singing lessons?"
"Did you take guitar lessons and do you play any other instruments?"
"What's the best thing about being a famous musician?"
"What's the worst thing?"

Her list went on and I'm not saying this just because she's my daughter but I thought her questions were thoughtful and interesting especially for an 8 year old.  And I knew that there was no way I would get all of them answered but as a Mom you can't promise everything. What you can promise is that you'll do your best.

So Saturday we got to the theater and while our hubbies went to get a table at Blue Fish we headed to the Granada to pick up her tickets. My sister told the guy that she had been Pete's friend since elementary school and asked if he was around.  He was very nice after we assured him we were not groupies and said to check the tour bus in the back.  My sister laughed and said she never pictured me as the type to be walking in an alley behind the Granada Theater looking for a tour bus.  And she was right...this for me was a new experience.

As we made our way to the back of the theater, and thank goodness it was still daylight, we ran into a guy who was with the tour.  After telling her story, he told us to go ahead and knock on the door of the bus.  This was like something you would see in a sitcom.  We knocked and my sister had to yet again tell her story of elementary school.  To which the guy replied, "Hang on."

I've heard it said that the third time's a charm and it was because when the tour bus door opened up it was Pete.  After big hugs and catching up it was like no time had passed.  It was just like being back at my Mom and Dad's house in New Jersey when they were in 8th grade.  Being that he had a show to do there was no way I could ask him every question for my little one, but I did find out that he wrote his first song at about the age of twelve.

Pete Yorn put on a fabulous show that night, and if you are fortunate enough to get tickets when he comes to your town don't miss out.  He truly is a singer and songwriter who knows how to tell a story and evoke emotions in his audience.  I admire Pete because despite his fame, he is still the gracious and genuine guy that I remember.

Thanks Pete for the music, for taking the time to say hi, for answering my daughter's question, for her autograph which is already on her wall, and for being a great example of what I always tell my daughter..."In order to know where you're going, you have to remember where you come from and where you've been."


My Style Shout Out Tip:  Seriously, go out today and buy the 10th Anniversary CD of "Music For The Morning After."  This is an amazing work by an amazing talent that will not disappoint.