I went to Wrigley Field on Tuesday night but it wasn't to see a baseball game. Not that I wouldn't. I'm a White Sox fan but I've been in the friendly confines lots of times and it's always fun. This was a much bigger event for me. It was Elton John and Billy Joel in their Face to Face concert. Yes, the King and Queen of the Piano performing in the outfield to tens of thousands of fans. My nephew told me he had 2 FREE tickets so I asked him what I should wear. He hesitated but after a few minutes decided I had earned the opportunity to hang out with him. Phew.

The concert was 4 hours of awe-inspiring musicianship. Sure, the two of them are older now but who isn't? There were a couple of jumbotrons on either side of the stage so we had a great view of their chubby fingers tearing up the grand pianos. They played together for a bit, each taking the lead on the other's song, then split and Elton did a one hour solo as did Billy. Elton's set was loaded with the old songs that took me back to grade school where it seemed every week I was at a boy-girl basement party where we played albums and danced until the boys would figure out which slow song to play so they could turn the lights out and get the kissing started. Was "Benny and the Jets" really that romantic or just a long song for us little Catholics kids to be awkwardly linked to each other?I think the latter. Billy's "Only The Good Die Young" didn't come out until I was in high school so thankfully we weren't chanting that tune at our parties with the lights out. Not that we had a clue what the lyrics meant. Although, my father did. And it was not allowed to be played in our house. Fortunately, we had headphones.

Outside the concert was an interesting display of the 1st Amendment. I'm ok with the whole Freedom of Speech bit but I take issue when it's hateful. Across the street from Wrigley stood a group of 4 people that I surmised was a mother and her sister, both 40-ish, a daughter in her early 20s, and a son who looked about 14.  They were holding graphic signs stating who God hates, because I'm sure He told them.  "God hates Obama", "God hates Fags", "God hates Jews". The other sign they held up stated  "Jews took our land". My nephew and I figured out the "fag" and "jew" slangs were directed at the stars of the show. But when he asked me what land they were talking about, for the life of me I couldn't figure out what land the Jews took from those people holding the signs. I mean, I know a lot of Jewish people live in New York and even have places in the Hamptons, including Billy Joel and his ex-wives. But I just never read anywhere that the Hamptons used to be a trailer park before they started building sprawling manses. I'll have to research that one. 

Today's EiPod: "Honky Cat", Elton John