Willie Nelson – Still Going Strong

Ashleigh bought her Mom tickets for Willie Nelson at the Fraze in Kettering a week or so ago. I gave Ashleigh a number of suggestions for presents and she chose the concert. Of course, it helps that she likes Willie’s music also. My wife really loves Willie and his music so she was thrilled.

We knew we would have a good time but thanks to Willie we had a great time. They upgraded our seats and provided us with backstage passes where we got to meet Willie and his family and the great guys from 40 Points.

Merlyn was very patient with us and he stayed with us by the rear door and kept us company. I think he would have tackled Willie to get him to stop and say hello but such drastic steps proved unnecessary. When Willie came through the door he came right over and gave my wife a hug and gave Ashleigh a great big hug. We also got to meet the rest of the band and Willie’s sister and wife.

We watched a little of the concert from the wings and then went back out to our seats. Willie was great and is still going strong and it was very cool that his boys were playing with him as well.

One of the other people at the stage saw Ashleigh with the pick and said something like it was great that Ashleigh got a pick. Since we had four of the them, Ashleigh said we could give him one and my wife went back and gave it to him and he said we made his day. When we got home, Ash was very tired from the long day but she said she loved it.

To show you how un-cool my wife and I are we were like “OK, what does backstage passes mean?” So after 40 Points did their opening set, which we all really liked, my wife went backstage to see what we could do. She met Lukas Nelson and 40 Points and they said if we come backstage in about a half-hour we may be able to meet Willie. So, we went backstage with Ashleigh and ended up hanging out with 40 Points (Lukas Nelson, Guitar, Merlyn Kelly, Bass, Micah Nelson, Drums, and Tato Melgar, Percussion). We have pictures with Lukas, Tato, and Merlyn and they were really nice to us.

You would think that would be enough but there was even more. At the end of the show Willie came out to the edge of the stage and shook hands with fans from one side of the stage working over to the other side. When he got to our side, people realized what he was doing and they rushed the stage in front of us three or four deep. My wife and I were trying to keep people from tripping over Ashleigh’s wheelchair and falling on her and so we did not try to get closer. But then, one of the band members came back and handed me something in his closed fist. I wasn’t sure what it was and then I saw they were guitar picks embossed with Willie’s picture, very cool.

I handed one to Ashleigh and she put it to her mouth. I was a little worried she was going to eat it or something because I did not tell her what it was. Then, I looked and she was kissing it. We had her kiss it again while we took the picture. So, I guess she really liked it.

Thanks very much to everyone who pulled this together for us and to all of the great folks we met from Willie Nelson and his band to 40 Points and the staff. My wife says if you are back this way let us know and she will do up a great home-cooked meal for everyone.