by Marty Coleman | May 31, 2013 | Movies & Events |
I never got to see the Beatles in concert (my sister saw them twice) but I did see Wings at the Fabulous Forum in LA in 1976 and that was a great concert. But it was oh so long ago. I was looking forward to seeing him again after all these years.
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I got my first taste of how big a deal this was going to be in Tulsa when I took a long run around downtown last weekend and saw this street sign near the BOK Center where the concert was going to take place.
The concert actually started with a scrolling montage of photos and video from McCartney’s life. It made me want to watch this movie, one of my all time favorites, again.
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Once the concert commenced, Sir Paul did not disappoint. He and his band of 5 guys were incredible for over 2 1/2 hours.
Highlights included a solo Paul with a Ukelele singing ‘Something’ by George Harrison, after telling a funny story of how George and he played it on dueling ukeleles once. He then transitioned half way through the song to the full throated version of it with the band. It really was quite moving.
Courtesy of my friend, Julie Chin
I also really loved ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Band on the Run’, ‘Paperback Writer’ and ‘And I love Her’. There was only one song through the entire night (and 55 years of recordings) where I didn’t know the lyrics. I had heard the song before, from a later album, but that was it. The pyrotechnics during ‘Live and Let Die’ were pretty spectacular.
photo courtesy of my friend, Julie Chin
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His odes to his wives, ‘My Valentine’ for his current wife, Nancy and ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ for his late wife, Linda, were very touching and beautiful. I loved ‘Lady Madonna’ with the huge graphics of strong and successful women throughout the song, with scenes of Olympic runners hitting the finish line as the line ‘see how she runs’ was sung.
My own Lovely Linda and myself waiting for Sir Paul to arrive.
We had an amazing time surrounded by a huge diversity of people. Everyone sang along to almost every song but I beat Linda in the ‘know every song’ category for sure. It was great to meet a very cool couple sitting next to us before the show, hopefully we will meet up with them again. It was funny watching the long haired blonde (Cousin It) and her very tall, very gaunt BF (Lurch) in front of us think every song should be heard standing up,
and a bit sad watching the boy dragged along by his parents play a video game through the entire concert, non-stop.
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Most unexpected song: Helter Skelter. Very intense visuals and about as hard of a head banging heavy metal song that the Beatles ever did. And the band did it with some serious intensity. Sometimes you forget, due to Paul’s ballads and sweet love songs, what a hard core rocker he was and is. Linda didn’t like Helter Skelter, she had read the book about the Manson murders, and can’t hear it without thinking about that, but I thought it was a pretty amazing heavy metal song. The Beatles recorded a 17 minute version of the song that never got released while recording the White Album. Read more about here.
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He led up to one song by saying it had not been performed in public in many decades but he brought it out for this tour. It was pretty clear that there was a reason it isn’t brought out often, it was the weakest song of the night in my opinion – Lovely Rita (Meter Maid).
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Favorite song of the night? Hard to beat the second to last song in the encore, ‘Saw Her Standing There’ which he sang in honor of a girl named Charlotte in the audience who had a big sign saying she was turning 17…’she was just 17, you know what I mean’…
The Beatles – I Saw Her Standing There from – Thrive – on Vimeo.
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And the finale, not expected but great, was ‘Golden Slumber’. An amazing composition that had quiet moments, outrageous rock, searing solos on all instruments and a ear splitting finale. My favorite line? “… and in the end, the love you take … is equal to the love … you make.”
And in the end….we walked out under beautiful humid skies and saw this.
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We loved it and highly recommend going to see Sir Paul if you get the chance. It’s worth the money.
Did you go? What stood out to you?
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© 2013 Marty Coleman and Napkin Dad Publishing
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by Marty Coleman | May 30, 2013 | Nishan Panwar, Shhh...It's a SECRET! - 2013 |
Secret Stories
My napkin of yesterday, where I illustrated and talked about my having not had a drink in 20 years and the resulting secrets, led to, ironically enough, people telling me their secrets. I am always honored when friends (or strangers) tell me stories of their lives that they are not accustom to telling. I like knowing they trusted me, and honestly, it’s energizing to hear secret stories, don’t you think?
Push/Pull
The funny thing about secrets is that oft times you are torn about them. You want to keep it secret, you are DESPERATE to keep it secret because, well, what would people think if they knew. At the same time you yearn to let the secret out. You would feel so liberated if you could just let it be known that you love to dance naked in the backyard when no one is around. And then, after the liberated freeing feeling, you would revert and be mortified that you let it out. It’s how we are with our secrets, isn’t it.
The Consistent Continuum
Perhaps the best we can do is do our best to have the public us and the private us be the same. I don’t mean the same level of exposure, it’s fine to have private elements to your life, whether it’s backyard naked dancing or something else. But I mean who you present yourself to be, at whatever level, should be on an honest and consistent continuum of self. For example, if you are an anti-gay crusader who spends time in men’s bathrooms soliciting gay sex, you are not on an honest and consistent continuum of self.
In other words, are you being an actor playing a part, or are you, most of the time, being a real person being you?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Nishan Panwar
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Here is a picture of one of the people who confided in me yesterday. This is posted here with their approval.
No one wants to know what you are doing until you are doing something you don’t want anyone to know about
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by Marty Coleman | May 29, 2013 | Shhh...It's a SECRET! - 2013 |
The Last Drink With The Monkey
Twenty years ago today (5/29/93) I had my last drink of alcohol. I stopped but much damage had been done. As a matter of fact, my divorce 7 years after I quit can, in no small part, be attributed to my excesses while I was drinking. I had gotten the monkey off my back, but the circus he was part of did not depart. It lingered and reared it’s ugly head years later. This was not simply due to my past sins being exposed (which they were). It was also due to my having gotten used to living with a monkey on my back. Having gotten used to hiding that monkey, and the circus he was part of, from others. Even after the monkey was off my back, I still acted as if I had something to hide. I still liked getting away with things. That really was the flaw that led to my divorce if you ask me.
The Secret Circus
It took me many years to unravel that that was what was happening. It’s not something that is permanently unraveled because new situations and events arise that can bring the circus back out at any time. But they are minimal now because I see the tangles starting to wrap around earlier and take steps to avoid them. But most of all I expose them to myself and to my wife. The progress in confronting, and then avoiding, these tangles is one of the main reasons that my second marriage is becoming better instead of foundering. My wife and I both trust that we can point to a tangle and say ‘I am dealing with this, will you help me?’ and we will be helped.
Circuses and the monkeys that inhabit them have far less power when they are exposed.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by George Carlin
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by Marty Coleman | May 28, 2013 | Body Image - 2016, 2013, Garrison Keillor |
Are you thinking what i’m thinking? It’s Body Image #4!
Hair Brained and Empty Headed
I love a great hairdo. I love fun colors, bold shapes, great style. I think it’s awesome. But it’s not enough. To carry awesome style at it’s best you have to have the same investment in what’s under the hair as the hair itself. For a body image (which does include your head, by the way) to be solidly positive it has to be accompanied by a solid mind image as well.
Investing in your head
You invest $100 to have a great hairdo, but will you pay $100 to make your brain better? You would hire a physical trainer for your body if you could. But would you ask a trainer to help train your mind to think kinder, more loving, positive thoughts? You know your body (and hair) won’t be it’s best without you investing in it. The same is true of your mind. If you want to be a person with a great body image, you will need to have think highly of your mind as well. That takes work.
Can You Direct Me To The Mind Gym?
Never mind, I know where it is. It’s in my bookshelf in in my office and the book by my bed. It’s in my church. It’s in the Community College in town. It’s in good TV. And above all it’s in interesting conversations, curiosity driven adventures, and an open minded fearless attitude towards new ideas, people and places. That is what keeps my mind growing.
And that in turn, when combined with my paying attention to the body I have, leads me to feel good about all of me, my mind AND my body.
What do you do to keep body AND mind feeling good?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Garrison Keillor, 1942 – not dead yet, American Humorist and Writer, creator of ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ radio show.
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by Marty Coleman | May 24, 2013 | Body Image - 2016, 2013, Rosalind Russell, Women and Makeup - 2013 |
I am making a splash today with #3 in my Body Image series.
Body Goals
Because I coach intermediate runners I have occasion to work with people who do not occupy what they envision to be their optimal bodies quite yet. There are various body goals they may have. They may want to get thinner, have more muscle tone, be more flexible, or have better heart health, to name just a few. Since they have already made the choice to join a running program I take that to also mean they have made a decision to do something deliberate to achieve their goals. I encourage them, do my part in training them, explain as best I can what I think will help them achieve these goals. I truly want them to be who they want to be and I love helping them get there.
Joy Goals
But there is something else I work on with them. And that is joy and happiness. I believe achieving goals can increase one’s happiness. But I also believe you don’t arrive at a body goal (or any other type of goal) and suddenly find happiness waiting there for you. As odd as it sounds, one needs to train for happiness, just like for an awesome body.
Cannonball Fun
For example, the joy in doing a cannonball in a pool is primarily in the fun of doing it. If you are big and round, it is still fun. If you are skinny and boney, it’s still fun. If you are 60 years old it’s fun, if you are 20 years old it’s fun. Now, it is true you might enjoy the walk to the diving board more if you are happy about your body shape. It is true you might be less self-conscious about something if you have the body you want. But if you want to experience fun you shouldn’t wait until you are ‘perfect’ to experience it. Suffer that bit of self-consciousness if you must because the act of doing that fun thing will show you, again and again, that your self-consciousness can be overcome, it can be put in it’s place.
Training Joy
But if you wait for that ‘perfection’ then while you are practicing and training your body to be it’s best you are continuing to train your mind to think it’s not. You are continuing to tell yourself that joy and fun and happiness is dependent on you being the right weight, or the right tan color, or the right bra size and that is not true. You actually may intellectually know it is not true, just as you know intellectually you will be in better shape if you run or work out. But that knowledge will remain academic and intellectual, unproven and unpracticed, unless you practice the happiness action the same way you practice the physical action.
In other words, train your joy and happiness as well as your body, then both will be in great shape!
How do you train your happiness and joy?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Rosalind Russell, 1907-1976, American actress. Her autobiography is titled, ‘Life is a Banquet’.
Rosalind Russell
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