Last night was one of those special nights that make you feel like Santa Claus.
My concert/musician conoisseur friend Allison, a 38 year old with mild Cerebral Palsy (she can push herself in a manual wheelchair), has literally been stuck in the hospital the last 3 months with these mysterious stomach abscesses that had to be surgically removed.
And since she’s been in bed for 3 months trying to heal, she’s not surprisingly gotten weaker. So now, unfortunately, she’s at a stage where she can’t transfer herself anymore from the floor back into her chair for example (in her studio condo she just has a mattress on the floor…yeah she’s emo like that). So now she’s found herself in the nationally renowned Courage Center: A residential rehab center with PT, OT, and everything else disability-related under the sun. I myself lived there 10 years ago from ’97 – ’98, then moved out into an on-campus dorm.
So long story short, Allison has been seriously jonesing for some “medication” that involves a stage, live music, and some sexy guitar players. And being that’s she’s finally better to leave the hospital for short spurts at a time, and being that she had two FREE (woo!) tickets to see Billy Bragg last night, I was needless to say a more than willing chaperone. So off I went at 5:30pm last night to cross town to pick her up in my hoopdee – my modified, with ramp, lowered-floor 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan – and there was Allison in a freakin’ powerchair (her first time ever in one). She wobbled very unsteadily up my ramp, but blessedly made it inside in one piece, and within 20 mins we were at the venue.
We got the stellar, rock-star esque “gimpy gimp” seats, right by to the stage; far left. And we got a great view of da man himself, Billy Bragg. As per his usual (so says Allison; she’s seen him 12 times), he was great. His set involved a lot of political talk regarding Obama, Gitmo Bay, and then he blabbed about Bob Dylan for awhile too. And after the set, we rushed her back to the rehab center before midnight.
It was a great night. Allison got her much needed concert-fix, I broke her outta rehab and felt like Super Woman, and we got to see a famous musician up-close. What more could two disabled gals ask for?
– Tiff
PS. Billy likes to drink tea during his set. So very adorably British.
PPS. Allison cannot under ANY circumstance keep her eyes open when a camera flashes. lol. Silly CP.
What a special night for you both. There is nothing like seeing an inspired live performance to keep up your spirits. Sounds like you had a great time. I wish your buddy the best! 🙂
thx! have u ever seen billy live?
douglas, your “humor” never ceases to amaze….
I have seen Billy Bragg in the late 80s in New Orleans – super great guy and awesome live. I am sure that has not changed – he is a great musician. I found him from the early stripped-down folk/punk activism of “It Says Here” and have followed him to later work with Wilco. I am sure it was a great show.
justin, he’s still great 🙂
Hi there,
I used to be a big BB fan back in the 1990s and my first ever CD was “Don’t Try This at Home”. Then he went on a 6-year hiatus and “William Bloke” didn’t do much for me. His high points were definitely “Workers’ Playtime” and DTTAH. I wish I’d seen him with the band he had then (Cara Tivey and all). Did he do this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pguvMxwzm14
I do wish he’d sing “Great Leap Forward” properly – the new lyrics are lame and the “updates” are out of place. Just MHO.
Oops, I just realised when I re-read my comment that I came to a quad’s blog and used the word ‘lame’ to mean rubbish. Sorry!