Cathy in the Wright

My Evening With Huey

Last night I went to see Huey Lewis and The News at Mystic Lake Casino. My friend Casey, who is a huge HL fan, has a brother-in-law out in California who works for a musical artists booking agency; he came through with tickets and back stages passes. Thanks, Chip.

The Mystic Lake auditorium is an interesting place. It doubles as a bingo hall, so all the seating is removable chairs. The place isn’t too large, which makes for a cozy performance. No one is all that far away from the stage. We were four rows away from the stage. Not spitting distance, but I could have easily flung some racy lingerie and hit my target. Again…thanks, Chip.

Huey looked pretty good for an aging 80’s rock star. Sure, there were a few places on the old mug that were crying out for a shot or two of Botox, but his voice sounded just the same. He’s still got it. That goes for the hair, too.

The crowd surprised me. There were quite a few gray heads in the audience. Hard to picture Grandma rockin’ out to “I Want A New Drug” but it was happening all over the place. Perhaps I should clarify "rockin." There was a lot of clapping along to the music and some standing and dancing, but nothing that was going to involve security and EMTs. Oh well.

There was an interesting guy in the row behind us. He and his date were wearing matching Hawaiian print shirts and snug white shorts. I’m guessing they thought they bought tickets for Jimmy Buffet, but were too drunk to care that it was Huey Lewis. They had a great time. Of course, they would have had a great time listening to the kitchen staff bang spoons on half-filled glasses of water. A shame, really. The kitchen staff would have probably only charged them twenty bucks.

The concert itself was fantastic. It was, unfortunately, only a little over an hour long. Had I paid $50 for a ticket, I would have felt a bit cheated; it’s not as if the man didn’t have enough material for another sixty minutes. Since I didn’t pay for my ticket…I’m not complaining. Did I say thanks yet, Chip?

A side note about the lead guitar player, Stef Burns. This guy straddles that not too fine line between good-looking and oily. It took nearly the entire performance to come up with a verdict. He’s hot. The hair was swaying the jury towards oily, but the firm biceps and pecs under the snug black t-shirt were heavy evidence for the good-looking plea, and upon learning that he speaks fluent Italian, all reasonable doubt was removed. (Being multi-linguistic is an aphrodisiac, boys. Should have paid attention in high school Spanish class.)

After the concert, we were herded through the bowels of the casino to a small room to await our chance to shake hands with the band members. Casey started to get pretty nervous about meeting Huey. Like I mentioned earlier, she’s a big fan. This was her sixth HL concert. I tried to put it all in perspective for her. “Remember, Casey, it’s just Huey Lewis. It’s not as if we’re going to meet (and here I put my hand over my heart and sighed)…Karl Rove.”

Once in the designated room, we hung out with about a dozen or so other people and waited for the band members. Only three of them came in to chat. We talked for a short while with the bass player – very nice guy – as was the road manager. Huey came in and talked with a group of older adults for a while (they apparently had a lot in common), and then made a brief sweep of the rest of us. Casey got her autograph and a picture. I shook his hand, but to tell the truth, I was kind of hoping to shake the hand of the hot lead guitar player.

We left the casino around 10:30 p.m. Not exactly the old days when one got highly intoxicated and/or stoned, screamed and danced with the band until midnight, puked in an alley behind the Metrodome, continued drinking for hours at a friend’s apartment while listening to the CD you bought at the concert, and finally falling asleep to the dulcet tones of the garbage truck making morning rounds.

Or so I’ve heard.

Thanks, Casey, for the fun evening! When Rick Springfield comes to town next….WE ARE THERE!

Posted by Cathy at August 2, 2005 01:45 AM