The Revolutionary Bug: A Bucket List

This is actual video from the night I was at the Opry! Barry Gibb singing “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” with Ricky Skaggs.

Yes, I’m posting about this a bit late, I know… Things have been kind of hectic.

Anyways, the Grand Ole Opry was SO AMAZING - show, building, performers, people working there, and all! :D

Little Jimmy Dickens, who’s 91, performed and cracked jokes. I loved him! He kept saying, “I’m just not well.” Which was kind of sad, but sometimes he kind of made it funny, like an “excuse” for a raunchy joke. Haha.

There were all sorts of people performing that night! Jimmy Wayne, James Otto, Connie Smith, Darryl Worley performed “Have You Forgotten” (awesome!), Dailey and Vincent were cool, Ricky Skaggs and the Kentucky Thunder were great, and, as an amazing “Opry Moment,” Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees was there for the first time.

The set and lighting was so cool! I really want to work backstage there. :) During intermission, I spoke with the sound technician who’s worked there since 1999. Before that, he was touring with Kenny Chesney. When they called him, obviously the Opry was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. His sound board that he was working with was a brand new, only delivered and put in two weeks before that night, digital one. Before that, it had been all analog… I believe he said over 78 channels! He said he just had to read the manual and go with it, because when I was there, the guy who was supposed to show him how to use it wasn’t due to show up until the next week. So, he’d been using it without having been shown how for two weeks! Crazy. I wish I had skills like that… :D

Anyways, it was all just… so cool! I’m so glad I got to go. It was an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to go back. Mom promised we’d go on a backstage tour someday, sicne we didn’t that night… can’t wait for that, especially! ;)

#48 - Visit and watch a show at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN - checked off the list!

This is the second item I’ve checked off my bucket list! The pictures are terrible, I know… sorry about that. If you click the photos, they’ll come up bigger, with captions beneath them as to who is performing at that moment! Will write an actual post about it in a bit…

“Your Ghost” by Greg Laswell

So. Beautiful.

Greg Laswell’s concert was SO amazing. I was hooked from the start.

His opening act was Elizabeth Ziman from Elizabeth and the Catapult. She was cool. Her voice is beautiful.

She played several songs, and then Greg Laswell came out with his band. Elizabeth was there again, too, because on his new album, he’s got a few songs with female vocals. Or, as he accidentally said, making the audience crack up, “lady parts.” ;)

The first song he played is my favorite one from his new album - “New Year’s Eves.” So great. I was grinning from ear to ear.

I wrote down all the songs in my bucket list journal that I’d brought along, but I’m not going to list them all out. There were two I didn’t know, also. One was because it wasn’t his song. But, anyways…

When he sang “Dragging You Around,” also a new song on his album, that he sings with Sia, although of course on stage, it was with Elizabeth, he said it was supposed to be an “apology” to someone, but as he was writing it, he realized, he just didn’t care. So, it became the song it actually is.

Right after that, he sang “How The Day Sounds,” which is his song, but he was covering a cover someone else had done of it. So, it was slower than it is on the album. This isn’t on Landline… it’s an older one. It was great.

When he sang “Late Arriving” off his new album, I THINK he said it was written for his dad? Anyways, it was beautiful.

When he sang “I Might Drop By” he said he wrote it from the point of view of his wife, who he married this past year, to him. He’s married to Ingrid Michaelson, who sings “Landline” with him. Apparently, this song is what he thought she was thinking when they were just good friends at first.

The second to last song he sang was “Amazing Grace.” He said he hadn’t sang it yet on this tour (we were only the 4th show) but he wanted to do it, because he had some friends from Nashville who were “good Christian folks.” It was so… just amazingly beautiful. I was tearing up. Seriously, it was so beautiful and moving. I didn’t actually cry, though.

And then… his final song? He didn’t announce it. He just started playing. But I recognized it right away, and went “Oh My God” out loud. My friends who were with me glanced at me and were all, “what?” But I couldn’t explain. I was speechless after that. The song was “Your Ghost.” It’s the first song I really heard and noticed by him, that really got me into his music. His music is so great, and is just so inspiring, and “Your Ghost” sung by Greg Laswell has a really special place in my heart. I could’ve probably started sobbing then, but I held it together. A few tears got down my face, I think. But I held it together, other than that. I was just… so happy. I hadn’t expected to hear that song played by him live. It was really a great, wonderful moment.

Anyways, that was his final song. There were 17 songs total. It was a fairly long concert. Which made me happy! Then, afterwards, I went over and got in the merchandise line. At the end of it was Elizabeth, waiting to greet people and all. I told her how great she was, then was all, “This is weird, but I have my bucket list journal with me…” and then she was all, “Well?” then seeing me embarrassed, “Do it! Do it!!!” I laughed and explained that meeting Greg was on my list, and she said he was coming out from backstage soon. So, I bought a t-shirt (which I’m wearing today. I love it.) and then went and stood by my friends. Then they said, “look, Taralei! There he is!” So I turned around, and there he was, by the bar! We started walking towards him, he was taking a picture with some guy by the bar. Then, I went up to him after he was done, and explained about my bucket list. I was so awkward. But he was so nice! He said, “Well, you’ve done it now!” And then asked my name, and shook my hand, signed my bucket list journal, and chatted a little bit. He also took two pictures with me, because the first one, his eyes were closed. Also, I’m glad, because I look super freaked out in the first one. Haha!

I was so flustered after, gathering up my things to leave. But I was so HAPPY. I was on such a high! I had just met someone whose music I loved, whose music makes me happy, who inspires me! GAH. I’m just so… ecstatic! :D

I’m feeling kind of empty, today, actually. But I’m still happy, because I got to meet him! I got to meet Greg Laswell! And I was so looking forward to the concert, and really hoping there’d be some way I could meet him… and I did! SO. GREAT. I just… can hardly believe it. But I’ve got proof. And I’m so happy. I keep saying that… but really, I am. So. So. SO HAPPY. :D

#10: Meet Greg Laswell - Checked off the list!!! :D

My first item checked off the list! So excited! Will write an actual entry about it… but here’s the picture as proof!

Basically, this is a list of things I’ve already done that would have gone on my Bucket List if I hadn’t done them yet.

1. Started writing novels for fun - January 2002
2. Started the volunteer organization, Vest-A-Dog Girls - May 2004
3. Lettered in Theatre in High School for being on Tech Crew for the productions of “Singin’ in the Rain,” “You Can’t Take it With You,” and “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” - Spring 2008-Spring 2009
4. Went to both my Junior and Senior Prom with friends - May 2008 and 2009
5. Graduated High School - June 2009
6. Did the Leap of Faith at Ox Lake - July 2009
7. Swam with trained dolphins at Epcot - December 2009
8. Got on the Dean’s List first semester at St. Cloud State - Fall 2010
9. Counselor at Camp Wapo/Ox Lake - Summer 2011
10. Met Mike Wolfe of American Pickers - October 2011
11. Tasted wine at Arrington Vineyards for 21st Birthday - March 2012

1. Get SOME sort of higher-level education degree/certificate.
2. Get at least one of my books published.
3. Travel Australia and New Zealand.
4. Meet the love of my life.
5. Marry the love of my life.
6. Work as a technical director on Broadway.
7. Go up into the top of the St. Louis Arch.
8. Learn to water ski (possibly on the Mississippi?).
9. Work/volunteer at a zoo or some place where I can learn about all types of birds.
10. Meet Greg Laswell (and be serenaded by him? If he’s willing…).
11. Make some sort of trip to each of the 50 states.
12. Take a road trip from coast to coast.
13. Have a pet chinchilla.
14. Have/train my own dog (hopefully a labrador or golden retriever?).
15. Meet Ellen DeGeneres.
16. Swim with dolphins in the wild.
17. Write a play.
18. Help, in some way, to find the cure for MS (Multiple Sclerosis.).
19. Travel all along the Mississippi (maybe by boat?).
20. Be in the audience of/a contestant on a game show. (Let’s Make A Deal! maybe?)
21. Meet Wayne Brady.
22. Travel to Italy, and meet my family that lives there.
23. Complete/win NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.).
24. Go on an exotic, fun cruise.
25. Have a pet turtle.
26. Work on the set of a show/movie with Fran Kranz acting in it.
27. Learn to swing dance.
28. Meet J.K. Rowling and discuss the world of Harry Potter.
29. Learn to play tennis.
30. Take a train trip around Europe.
31. Climb Mount Shasta in California.
32. Go to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.
33. See the Northern Lights.
34. Visit the Louvre in Paris, France.
35. Climb Mount Haleakala in Hawaii.
36. Just visit Hawaii and have fun.
37. Go to the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C.
38. Meet our sitting president (I mean the President of the United States…).
39. Learn the art of woodworking.
40. Make a quilt.
41. Go dog sledding.
42. Go bird watching in Costa Rica.
43. Be a spectator at the Kentucky Derby, and wear one of those fun hats.
44. Be at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
45. Be at Time Square on New Year’s Eve.
46. Be a spectator at the World Cup (soccer.).
47. Learn Irish Stepdancing.
48. Visit and watch a show at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
49. Meet Taylor Swift.
50. Learn Pole Dancing (!).
51. Go fishing and eat what I catch. (NO, not everything… just the edible fish.)
52. Finish a 1000 piece puzzle.
53. Visit the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”
54. Work at a London Theatre, such as the Globe Theatre or one of the West End theatres. Or at least see a show or two at them!
55. See an opera.
56. Be the sound tech for a tour or concert of a current favorite musician.

That’s it… for now. I think 56 is a good number for a Bucket List. If I think of anything else, I’ll add it here somehow, or if something exciting happens to me that I don’t have on the bucket list, but is list-worthy, I shall write about it on here. :)