What didn’t happen this weekend?

It began with an unofficial fifteen year high school reunion on Friday night. My friend Corey put it together, and I saw so many folks that I haven’t seen in forever. Made possible through the magic of Facebook. Got home in time to pack young J up for two weeks of sleepaway camp, and sleep for a few hours before heading off to Atlantic City for Dan’s Clutch show.

Saturday was J’s 12th birthday, so he came along to see Dan play, and get dropped at camp on the way home. We sat in shore traffic for many hours, but arrived at the House Of Blues at the Showboat in time for soundcheck. I always like taking my kids to HOB venues, as there’s always numerous quiet rooms backstage to duck into when necessary to decompress.

Wonderful tour manager Oscar coordinated with HOB for a birthday cake for J backstage, so we kicked off the night with that. J’s birthday present was a Nintendo DS Lite, so you can bet he was well occupied while waiting for the rawk. Thank god we forgot the charger in the room, or he may not have spoken all night.

Rock and roll shows are always fun, but this one was made triply so by the fact that Uze, AKA Brian Hinkley, was proposing to his girl Belinda on stage. We’ve known Brian for a loooong time, as he was in Tree, an amazing Boston band, and now fronts Never got Caught. He also tours frequently with Clutch, as the guitar go-to man, and jams on stage. So he’s family.

After he jammed on Animal Farm and Texan Book of the Dead, he invites Belinda out on stage. “Belinda…” (drumroll) “You know I love you.” (Big guitar chord) “And I’m gonna love you forever…”

At this point, Belinda just has her hands over her face and is peeking out through them. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. After he broke out the ring, she uncovered her face enough to scream, “Yes! YESSSS!” and after a kiss, the show went on. It was sooooo awesome.

J and I were sidestage in a little balcony with couches, which let me get some good video footage of the show. I am apparently much more tech-challenged than I knew, as I can’t get these mugs to upload with Quicktime Pro to save my life. If anyone has any bright ideas, please tell me in the comments. After three hours of wrangling with it, it’s time for me to go make dinner. But I really want to show you!

Other highlights of the trip: I put $5 in a slot machine, and on the first pull won $4. Considering myself a winner, I cashed out and called it a day. Woooooh, I’m a wild child!

And the second: On the day of our departure, I proudly led Dan and J through the labyrinth that is the Showboat Hotel, down through the loading dock area where we’d parked the day before to unload equipment. Except…the door I took us out of was squarely on the other side of the fence from our minivan. We could see it…we could almost touch it…but we sure couldn’t get to it. Nor could we get back in through the door, which locked behind us. Rather than circle the massive hotel again, we hopped the fence with our suitcases. One of my favorite parenting moments to date.

Hopefully, I’ll have video up tomorrow…Happy Monday!
xoxo, L