The Big Night-play by play

So early last week Mike says, "Hey, let's get a sitter and go out on Saturday night."

I say, "Sounds like a plan, what do you want to do?"

He says, "I'll take care of it."

I say, "you're not going to tell me anything?" He says, "no.

Well, Saturday night rolls around and I am having an impossible time finding a sitter. I was also exhausted from staying up really late the night before and working really early that morning. I suggested rescheduling our date for another time but he seems disappointed by that so I make a few more phone calls and scored an awesome sitter. I begin to ask Mike lots of questions about our night because I want to be dressed appropriately in case he is taking me someplace really nice. He says we are going to eat at the mall. Mike HATES the mall so now I am totally stumped. All he will tell me about our date is that he saw something in the paper that looked interesting, he researched it and it turns out that it could be very cool or a total flop. My curiosity was KILLING me. After a nice combination dinner of Panda Express and Great Steak and Potato, he leads me to the picture taking booth to have our picture taken. I must say I haven't done that since high school and those booths have shrunk since then.

We hop back in the car and head toward Ewing Manor which gets me really excited because I love going there for Illinois Shakespeare Festival but have yet to go inside the actual building. You can imagine my total surprise as he turns into the Unitarian Universalist Church. The WHAT? This is creepy I tell him. He agrees and reminds me that it could be a total flop or it could be really cool. As we enter the building it looks (and smells) like any other old church. We made our way to a very uncomfortable pew and I begin to study the stained glass windows to determine whether or not I could fit through them if we are presented with the creepy Kool-Aid. Satisfied with my escape plan, I begin to relax.

We were there to see Jim Scott (who?), a guitarist who has shared the stage with the bassist who plays for Peter Gabriel. For those of you who don't know, Mike is the biggest (and possibly only) Peter Gabriel fan that survived the '80's. Well, I can always appreciate good music, but this date gets crazier. Curious about the Unitarian Universalist (UUA) church I start thumbing through the Hymn book. If you ever have the privilege of looking through the UUA hymnal, you will see "hits" entitled "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child," "The Pen is Greater," "Joyful is the Dark," and the ever popular hit "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," among more traditional hymns like "Amazing Grace," and "O come Emmanuel."

Well I must say that while Mr. Scott's guitar playing was delightful, his songs were sort of "out there." With an emphasis on preserving our environment and protecting the Earth, he wrote his first song with pauses for us all to take a deep breath together. I glanced at Mike. He winked at me. Mr. Scott's second song included sign language about the circle of friends. The funniest part about the song was that EVERYONE was totally into it. I saw adults ages 21 to 81 circling their hands above their heads proudly. I actually tried to take a picture of it on Mike's cell phone but it didn't turn out. As Mr. Scott began a 10 minute introduction to his next song, Mike says, "wait 30 seconds and meet me outside." I smile at the people behind me and make my way outside but Mike is nowhere to be seen. Then I heard the screeching of the tires and see Mike waving frantically at me through the sun roof. Then he starts waving his hands around his head like everyone did for "Circle of Friends" and as I hop into the car I can't remember a time when I laughed that hard. We headed to Entourage to detox (or tox depending on how you look at it) and were home by 8:30. It was a great night.

If you want to see what I mean, you can check out Jim Scott's website at your own risk!

jimscottmusic.com