Natalie & A Drive in the Country

This was a weekend of contrasts. I like it that way. Different experiences to scratch the different corners of my psyche. To start the weekend off, the full power circle had tickets to see Natalie Cole in concert at a local venue.

As a group we have gone to a number of concerts and always enjoyed ourselves in spite of the fact that individually we have different preferences in music. I think this is because we are all broad enough musically (Let's not talk about physically!) to enjoy a lot of different types of music.

I have been a fan of Natalie Cole's for a number of years and have seen her twice before in concert so when I saw she was going to be in the area I suggest to the circle that we go. Of the group I would say that my taste in music tends to be a bit more sedate...Heck, I still listen to Glen Miller and The Andrew Sisters although I also listen to smooth jazz, beach music (another post), zydeco, country, classical and rock. What I'm trying to get at is that this concert was my idea and more suited to my tastes but I was hoping the whole circle would enjoy it.

Without going into great detail let me just say that for the first 1/4 of the concert I was really beginning to feel uncomfortable. Things weren't going right and Natalie didn't seem to be "hitting the mark". I'm thinking to myself that I'm gonna' have a lot of explaining to do to the circle....and...if I survive the initial harassment, they will NEVER let me forget this night. When we're sitting around the nurses station at "the home" they'll still be saying "Remember that terrible concert that "his-self" made us go to?"

Well, about a quarter of the way through, the switch flipped. You could see it. You could feel it. The woman was totally in control not only of herself but the audience as well. She was "rockin", "gettin down"....whatever words you want to use, she was doing it. A fabulous voice, great presence, great tunes. If Aretha is the "Queen of Soul", Natalie is surely in the entourage.

Most of the songs she sang were from her latest CD pictured above. Almost all are covers of songs by different artists like Sting, The Alman Brothers, Neil Young and others. The album has gotten very good reviews. If you like, read about it here.

So Friday night was a success. Saturday was devoted to "life support". That's a fancy way to say routine chores around the house.

Sunday the bride and I had planned to take a drive in the country. This day I wanted to explore some areas of Eastern Colorado I had not previously been to. If you've spent any time on this blog you've read my comments about the history of Eastern Colorado. It's totally different than that of the mountains but fascinating in it's own way.

Talk about scratching the corners of my psyche!...First stop was Ramah, Colorado, a small town with a population of about 120, 50 miles east of Colorado Springs. Ramah appears to have been a rail stop at one time and was probably an agricultural center. It now is...? I'm not sure exactly what it is now but if you're into old cars, you need to come see this place. I'm thinkin that the old cars out number the people here. A lot of these are not your run of the mill junk cars. These are gems just waiting for a restoration...

As I was taking a picture of this great old Nash, a beat up, almost junk car pulled up and stopped. Keep in mind that this is about 10 am on Sunday morning....The driver gets out of the car with a beer in his hand. If they had a pool room in Ramah, I'll bet that's where he came from. He says, "Wanna buy that one?"

After some real intellectual conversation I elicited the fact that the town was indeed jam packed with old cars...most of which belonged to this guy's friend who went unnamed. Un-named but identified as a one time president of "Sons of Silence" motorcycle gang. The guy is really very nice and says that this friend collected these cars at one time and old cars would just "show up" in town periodically with no real explanation from his friend.

After spending the better part of an hour nosing around we headed west towards Colorado Springs. On the way out of town we saw what at first, looked like a small prison, with high fences and spotlights all around. After looking a bit closer it looked to be a "private residence"????

The bride and I speculated that perhaps that's where "the friend", the president of "Sons of Silence" lived?

Do you want to read about the rest of the trip? I promise it won't bore you. I'm gonna break this down into two posts because I'm looking out for my readers well being. Don't want to put you in psyche overload. Take a break and come back for part two...


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