A Heartache Tonight Brought a Smile to my Face

Jefferson City's Salute to America Celebration

Heartache Tonight Rocks Jefferson City With Thomas Jefferson Peering over the Canopy

Ominous clouds drifted in from the south and thunder rumbled as my wife and I headed into Jefferson City in a Mercury minivan filled with neighbors and bag chairs last night.  We arrived just as the parade kicking off the Capitol’s Salute to America was ending.  Hungry residents were streaming from the parade route to a row of food vendors offering their wares on High Street between the Capitol and the Supreme Court.

After strategically erecting our bag chairs on a patch of green immediately adjacent to VIP seating, we went in search of food.  The choices were many.  Walking slowly, we considered the individual merits of Jamaican jerk chicken, BBQ sandwiches, corn dogs, Philly cheese steaks, turkey legs, brats, and good old-fashioned hamburgers featuring a half-pound of charcoaled ground beef and all the fixin’s.  Though I witnessed none, I could imagine vegan’s running screaming from the area with their hands over their eyes. 

Back in our chairs with our butts hovering inches above the lush grass of the Capitol lawn, the cool breeze this area gets every 15 years or so on July 4 made it seem more like late September than early July.  As the opening ceremonies began a rotund woman behind me talked on her cell phone in a voice a few decibels higher than the emcee who had the benefit of a P.A. system.  “HANG ON !” she shouted into her phone.  “WE ARE GOING TO SAY THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE NOW!”

Maybe it was the dropping barometer that school teachers dread.  I don’t know.  But it was a restless crowd that surrounded us.  Cell phones ringing, people weaving in and out of the audience like bees on a hive – and, though we had dodged the first storm, another dark cloud in the southwest seemed to be edging in our direction.

On the stage erected on the south lawn of the Capitol, festival organizers led the crowd in paying tribute to our vets and the sponsors.  A prayer and the pledge of allegiance, taboo in some parts of the U.S. but cherished here in Jefferson City, began the ceremony.

As the sun dropped below the horizon the main attraction took the stage.  With a giant statue of Thomas Jefferson peering over their shoulders, Heartache Tonight, a six man Eagles tribute group, revved up their instruments.  Formed in 1971 when some in the crowd were still serving in Viet Nam, Nixon occupied the White House, and I was single, the Eagles still pack in the crowds.   For an October Eagles concert in Tulsa, I found 523 tickets still available.  The cheapest was $121.  The most expensive was $1508.  Tickets to the Heartache Tonight - Eagles Tribute concert on the Capitol lawn were more in my price range – free!

The group began a guided tour down memory lane.  After a few songs the crowd became more attentive.  The two women in front of me even ceased sending text messages and showing each other the responses, lighted screens flashing in the night.

Seven Bridges Road

Already Gone

Peaceful Easy Feeling

Tequila Sunrise

Life in the Fast Lane

Lyin’ Eyes

Take it Easy

Best of my Love

Witchy Woman

Already Gone

Take it to the Limit

New Kid in Town

Take it Easy

Love Will Keep Us Alive

And more, and more, and more; and even their namesake song

Heartache Tonight.

For two solid hours, with no breaks, Heartache Tonight rocked Jefferson City.   It is often said “It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings”.  Well, maybe that's not said quite so often anymore.  But even if the fat lady behind me did put down her phone and sing,  I knew this concert wouldn't, COULDN'T, end without the group singing Hotel California.  Which they did, and despite the lyric "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave", they then left.

“What about Desperado?” asked my neighbor.  And, as if in response to her plea, Heartache Tonight reappeared and sang Desperado, plus a couple more songs.   Then they really did leave,  a well satisfied crowd in their wake.

As I struggled in the dark to get my bag chair back into the bag, a guy in front of me expressed his satisfaction.  “Worth every penny!” he said.

 

Well said!   And for the first time in my life I am able to say “I really did enjoy a Heartache Tonight".

 

(And it never rained a drop.)