Turning 50

I will turn 50 next year (pause for exclamations of surprise such as "No way, he looks much younger than that") and my best friend from England will also reach this milestone in 2013.  We started to discuss ways we could celebrate. We have spent very little time together since 1986, the longest, and most recent, get together in that 26 year stretch being a 2 day visit last year.  But, like all good friends, when we do get together it's like we saw each other the week before.  We just catch up and move right along.

In the midst of our thinking about plans to get together, we came across a very cool story.  Our favorite musician from our teen years was reuniting with his band after 30 plus years.  Graham Parker and the Rumor were amazing back in the 70s and 80s but never quite had the success enjoyed by other 80's Brit Wave artists.  They faded away.  I saw GP perform a few times over the years as a solo artist and it was fine.  But the Rumour were sorely missed.  It turns out movie maker Judd Apatow is also a huge Graham Parker fan and he found a role for the musician and his band in the upcoming movie, This is 40. Seeing an opportunity to be musically relevant again and relive some youthful shenanigans (as well as paying some bills I imagine or at least padding their 401Ks) Graham Parker and The Rumor reunited to release a new album and embark on a short tour that includes 3 stops in California.  Here was our opportunity.  We're getting the band back together!  Or at least we are following the band that's getting back together.

So, it's on.  Next week I will meet Mark in LA, and we'll go to the first show of the week at the famous Roxy Theater on Sunset Boulevard.  How cool is that.  We'll also squeeze in a day at Universal Studios.  Then it's a long drive to Lake Tahoe for a couple of days before hitting shows in Santa Cruz and San Francisco.

Here is my tour shirt from the last time we saw the band back in 1982. 

I sent this picture to Mark.  He said: "You're right, you haven't changed a bit!" Rude.

Check out the story of the Graham Parker reunion here:

So that's my little story, and to tell it I had to create a blog.  Maybe we'll post some updates from our epic adventure.