1. Tears for Fears.
2. Drinking wine.
3. Eating crab cakes.
4. Watching Jimbo (dad) do a half sprint to get good concert seats.
5. Watching Jim do things #2 and #3 and then start to dance.
There are few places you can do all five of these things, but I have managed to find that place: Chateau St. Michelle. Jimbo refers to it as his "special place," and I'm happy to say it's now my happy place too.
Sure the wine's way overpriced ($40 a bottle!), and sure it's in Woodinville (more like Woof'nville), and it's festival seating, but let me assure you that it's the most brilliant concert venue I've been to in a long time. That means a lot coming from me because I really don't like to go to concerts anymore; people bug me, it's overpriced, and it takes too long. Last night, o night, was perfect.
First of all we spent a looonnnggg time in line while my parents chatted up some people behind us. Turns out he's a local basketball coach. His brother (cousin?) starts talking to us
Ok pause, because I could best explain it by describing Ash, our new friend, as the East Indian David Coy. A talker, charming, quick thinking, and overtly social, the guy can hook you.
Unpause.
So David, er, Ash, and Jimbo start talking about seating. Jimbo lets Ash & co. in on his strategy for finding the perfect spot, Jimbo's El Dorado if you will. Ash tells Jimbo that he's following him and that they are now best friends. He also promises him a "sick" bottle of wine.*
When the doors open, Jimmy B. pumps his little hobbit legs as fast as he can. All we see is his neon green folding chair backpack bobbing up and down across the field. At one point, you can he hesitates; apparently, the Winery has a new system for letting in people, which throws Jimbo Baggins' plan out the window. Moments later, he has formulated a new plan and is back to humping (I'm using Vietnam vocabulary now) his chair across the green. He stakes his claim with a blanket or two and gives the stink eye to anyone who challenges him on his turf. We're in.
And then the feasting. Wine, cheese, crackers, wine, shrimp salad, wine, crab cakes, champagne, and cookies. Then more wine. We trade food with Ash & co. (actually, it's not really "we," just Jimbo and Ash, yeah, it gets a little bromantic for a while). Ash fulfills his promise and buys a sick bottle of wine for us. Cheers!
Wait! What are we doing? We've got tickets for Tears for Fears! Yeah! In the middle of bottle #4, TFF hits the stage. Maybe it was the fairly decent sound system; maybe it was the two and half decades of writing hit songs; maybe it was the five bottles of wine, but TFF was f'ing amazing. Best band, ever. The crowd thought so, too, because they got their shit in the air everytime a jam was played. White people were dancingn like you've never seen. Ash did hip hop arms back and forth the whole show while drunk diling everyone he knew (he then alternated between singing into the phone and raising it in the air to let his annoyed friends listen on the other end of the line). My parents watched everything he did; I think my they had a huge crush on him, and to be perfectly honest, how could you not after a few bottles of wine? Dude was hilarious!
TFF looked good. They've aged well considering how ugly they were
as kids (see right). Most importantly, though, they sounded the exact
same! Roland Orzobal's voice sounded exactly like it does on the record. So good. They played all the hits: Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Woman in Chains, Sowing the Seeds of Love, Break it Down, Head Over Heels, and Shout (do you want an encore, do you want more? yes plz!). Whoever Ash called during "Shout" really got quite the call, because he got midly aggressive during that song. Who doesn't, though?
So now that I've shouted and let it all out, here are the things I can do without:
1. Concerts anywhere besides Chateau St. Michelle.
2. Alcohol-free shows.
3. Shows were you can't eat crab cakes.
Come on! I'm talking to you. Come on!
Listen:
Break It Down Again
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Head Over Heels
*Yeah, I know, he said "sick" to mean "awesome." He was kinda douchey, but he was Canadian (Vancouver), so we let it slide.
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