Another busy but fun week is gone and I’m not quite ready for the next one to start. Yes, it’s 5:49 a.m. Monday as I begin to type this. I took a nap for a couple of hours Sunday evening then got up and began to edit photos, write a travel story and write a blog for work. So I decided I would just stay up since I’m interviewing the drummer from Shinedown in a few hours and don’t want to sleep through it.
The week started off slow. I didn’t feel that great on Monday so I went home early but began feeling better in the afternoon. After making 72-hour kits at my singles branch’s family home evening activity, I took my friend Shiree out to the local Spoon Me frozen yogurt shop for a food review. Obvious jokes aside, it was a fun time with a good treat (I’m talking about the yogurt).
But Tuesday I was still feeling exhausted and didn’t get into work until late. So I ended up staying there late too, but did go out to dinner with a few coworkers.
Wednesday, however, was where the real fun happened. It was the day of the Peter Frampton concert and my friend/upstairs neighbor Janell was going to the concert with me. But I had a fun Frampton moment earlier in the day as I logged onto Twitter and saw that Peter Frampton himself had re-tweeted one of my earlier posts, which read: “Tuacahn comes alive tonight! @PeterFrampton will rock the red rocks.” Finally, I had achieved my goal of getting a celebrity RT.
I was told I would get meet & greet passes but wasn’t sure if it would work out. I was supposed to be able to meet both Gladys Knight and Foreigner earlier this year at Tuacahn concerts but they canceled their meet & greets. But I did get to meet Charlie Daniels, the guys from America and four of the American Idols, including Melinda Doolittle.
The concert was great (you can read my review for TheSpectrum.com here). And we did get to meet Frampton very briefly after the show. Since it was toward the end of his tour he was apparently quite tired. He didn’t sign anything and we were all basically limited to a quick photo with him (photo is coming). But right after the photo I told him I was the reporter who interviewed him for the local paper and also thanked him for the re-tweet earlier. He made the connection and a big smile formed on his face. He thanked me for the article and shook my hand.
Then the next day I logged onto Twitter again and found a surprise. Frampton had found my review of his show online and tweeted the link. And he sent me an @ message via Twitter: “Thanks so much for the review. I am sorry we didn't get to spend more time after the show. I WILL be back thanks to all there!!”
I spent the bulk of Thursday in the Enterprise area writing about Jason Knowles, a young man with some developmental and physical challenges who wanted to help his community. So he began collecting recycling from his neighbors and talking it to the local bins. You can read my story here and watch the video I helped our photo editor shoot here. I also did a little scenic drive along the Crestline Road between Enterprise and Panaca, Nevada, for my Backways & Byways column.
I spent Thursday night on the phone telling my dad about my adventures with Peter Frampton and calling to set up about a dozen appointments for my branch president at church. I had big plans to write a couple of stories that night but it didn’t happen. So I spent Friday morning and early afternoon finishing the Jason Knowles story and the story about Ramadan that came from my dinner with the Muslim family in Cedar City the previous week.
My plans for Saturday included one event: The first Zion Canyon Music Festival in Springdale. Because it was $20 to get in and I planned to be there all day, I didn’t think anyone would be interested in going. But Janell sent me a text late that morning and said she was interested. And I was happy to have the company. You can read more about that festival on my work blog here.
We did take a break from the festival to visit some of the galleries and grab dinner. We stopped by to see my friends Tim Campbell and Dave West, who both own galleries in Springdale. Janell was just as impressed with Dave’s photography as I am every time I visit him. And he’s just a genuinely nice guy, as is Tim. We a tasty dinner at Casa de Amigos, which is probably the best Mexican joint in Southern Utah.
Then it was back to the park to finish out the festival. Unfortunately a rainstorm decided to shut it down early. We initially fled in search of an umbrella and returned. But the rain was coming down so hard we decided to call it a night, completely forgetting that we had taken my cheapo camp chairs to sit on. Apparently they now live in Springdale.
On the way home we consoled ourselves for missing the headliners, The Mother Hips, by listening to some Frampton and singing along to “Baby I Love Your Way.”
It was probably good we got home a little early because I had a long day of church ahead of me Sunday. Because my branch president had so many appointments I decided to go into church early to make sure they went well. So I got there at 9:30 a.m. and didn’t leave until after 5 p.m. It was a long, long day, but my branch president’s day was much longer so I can’t complain too much. And it felt good to serve.
This week probably won’t be quite as exciting but there are some fun things planned for a few evenings. Thursday and Friday I’ll be reviewing a couple of plays at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City. Then on Saturday night I’m attending a couple of art openings out at Kayenta. Plus I have to try and work ahead to get some extra stories done because I’ll be covering the LDS General Conference the first weekend of October.
Oh man, H, if this were 1976, you'd be able to get laid in any town in America. Frampton had some real street cred then.
It's still cool that you traded tweets with the dude, even if he 187 years old and doesn't have any hair left.
Posted by: Beez | September 22, 2009 at 04:40 PM
The dude may be old but he still rocks. And he put on a lot better show than many younger bands (easily better than Third Eye Blind) but even surprisingly better than Pearl Jam and the Chili Peppers.
Posted by: Brian | September 23, 2009 at 12:51 AM
He'll never outshine the Swanky Modes, though.
Posted by: Beez | September 23, 2009 at 05:50 PM