ABB

Last night while painting my daughter's room I was listening to The Fillmore Concerts, one of the live double albums by The Allman Brothers. What a great record.

I remember I got this one sometime in 2001 because I can remember listening to Stormy Monday over and over after work right around 9/11. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed is another great song I listened to both last night and today.

I remember (vaguely) seeing the Allman Brothers at Star Lake during the summer of 1998. That was the first summer that I opted to not move back in with my parents, but instead stayed in the Burgh. Summers in Oakland while you were an undergrad was a wonderful time. I think there was a special at some bar or another every night of the week. At the time, we did not discriminate against weeknights or weekends, they all sort of ran together. I don't remember too much about the concert other than consuming a few spirituous beverages (I was actually of age, too), and my friend Craig drove us home in his Taurus. Afterwards I know we went to a party too. Man what a great summer that was.

A lot has changed in 12 years. At that time, the priority was mostly about having fun, going to parties, hitting the bars, picking up girls, and seeing as much live music as I could (that summer we also saw the Dead, as well as Phish numerous times). Now the priorities are getting ready for the arrival of our daughter, spending time with my wife, home improvements, gardening, ultrarunning, and waiting for my dismal 401k to bounce back (no double-dip recession my butt!). I'm cool with that though, I definitely had all the experiences a young person in their 20's should have and am perfectly fine with sliding into everything the 30's and 40's have to offer: baldness, fatness, strange lumps, and new aches and pains every day. I will never, ever golf though, and the Allman Brothers are awesome no matter how old I get.