Last summer as my dear wife, Carrie, and I were on vacation in Williamsburg, Virginia.  The place was great to visit.  There is more historical business over there than we have time to talk about.  I can tell you we visited Colonial Willamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.  It was awe-inspiring to witness such historical places.  We are fortunate we had the opportunity to make that trip.

For Carrie this time was not quite as enjoyable as it was for me.  On vacation, mind you, she was rising and shining at 5 am or earlier and putting her nose in a book to study for a test she had to take to put herself in a position to maintain her employment and continue to make progress, as she always does.

Watching her toil over her book work as I rolled out of bed a couple hours after she did while we were on vacation…awkward… I called an audible that I am so glad I made.  It has changed my musical horizon for the better.  The result:  I found another band to listen to and enjoy beside The Moody Blues.  Know this, I have never been much of a “group” guy when listening to music.  I started with “The Bay City Rollers” and have graduated to “The Moody Blues”.  My music shelf is full of solo artists in comparison to musical groups.

So…I called the audible.  The band “Train” was playing at an outdoor barn near Virginia Beach… not far from where we were staying.  I knew Carrie had a couple Train cds.  She enjoyed listening to them.  I thought they were okay.

Regardless, I knew she needed a break from her book studying on vacation.

Enough was enough.

In what Carrie called another one of my “pot-bellied schemes”, I don’t know what that means, I bought tickets the day before the concert to see Train at Virginia Beach.  We went over to the Virginia Beach boardwalk and enjoyed that for all of twenty minutes before a giant storm sent all of us running for cover.  The concert was in doubt.  Finally, it cleared up.

So we went to see Train.  Before they came on two opening acts performed: Gavin Degraw and Michael Franti warmed us all up before Train took the stage and they proceeded to find a permanent place in my musical heart and run a distant second place on my IPOD to The Moodies and and just ahead of Paul McCartney and Tim Krekel on my playlist.

Train is great.  They are the most unpretentious bunch of great musicians I have ever seen. They seem to be like Minnie Pearl, just proud to be there.  And in the process, thanks to a complex sound that can take you up, down, sideways, and to places you didn’t know existed, Train becomes a part of your musical soul; at least they did that for me.  And I feel I am a tough musical nut to crack.

Yesterday my lovely Carrie and I relived our Train days of yesteryear.

Carrie and I were fortunate enough to attend a Train concert at FUNFEST in Kingsport, Tennessee.  We found FUNFEST to be one of the greatest civic-minded events we have ever seen.

The whole town seemed to be involved.  Thanks for sure goes to the Eastman company for helping to bring Train to Kingsport.

Look…our tickets to see Train at this festival concert cost $20 a piece.  40 bucks didn’t cover one of our tickets at Virginia Beach last year.  Thanks again to Eastman (hint…hint).

We were on the 38 yard line of a high school football field last night sitting in our own bag chairs and loving every minute of it.  Mind you, this was not just any high school football stadium.  Hopefully the pictures will add some perspective.

Did I ever expect to love a band from San Francisco?  No.  But it has happened twice.  I have seen Huey Lewis and News three times.  They too are from San Fran.

Still… from Calling All Angels to Drops of Jupiter (brings a tear to my eye) to Drive-By to Hey Soul Sister to This Ain’t Goodbye to The Finish Line to Marry Me to Angel in Blue Jeans to We Were Made for This….these are great songs.  I am so glad Carrie bought a couple Train cds a few years ago.  What a difference it has made.  And thanks to goes to Train for being what they are: any thing but phony.

They speak the rights.

A lady from the Kingsport paper took our picture

before the concert last night.

There was a great crowd there for Train and the opening band from Knoxville, The Dirty Guvvnah’s.Train spoke the rights.