MacNotes at Fenway - 2 (Pre-Show)

To read MacNotes at Fenway - 1 (The Arrival), please go here.

While we were roaming around, I noticed a man with a walkie-talking who seemed to be giving directions. A few minutes later, a short, blond man with round spectacles came into view. It was Greg Hawkes - from Boston's legendary new wave band, The Cars ! Hawkes and his guests were moved along to the side, and was not bothered (or possibly even recognized) by anyone. Not only did Hawkes play on "Motor Of Love" from McCartney's Flowers In The Dirt album, but he has recently recorded an album's worth of Beatles songs on the ukulele -George Harrison's third most well known instrument - entitled The Beatles UKe.

We could hear people trying out "The Beatles: Rock Band" on little stages, so we decided to check it out (Sorry, but it all looks a bit silly). Then it was time to see what they were selling at the concession stand. I had no intention of buying a T-shirt, but hoped my girlfriend would find one. We both focused on a woman's black T-shirt which featured a colorful "hand" print - presumably Paul's - outlining a colorful abstract painting - again, presumably Paul's. It also had McCartney's signature at the bottom. It reminded me of the cover for George's Living In The Material World album. One can't help but wonder - is this some sort of tribute ? The "hand" faces the other way, and the distinctive signature is beneath the "hand" instead of above, but in most aspects is very similar. We decide to get the shirt, and then head to our seats.

Our seats were the front row of the rear section. As we walked up to our seats, I noticed something that made me realize I had made a good decision: The stack of speakers was facing DIRECTLY TOWARDS US ! This was a wonderful sign as Fenway can have terrible acoustics - with sounds echoing all over the place - and ruining the music in general. It did not look like THAT would be a problem.

As I looked up at the endless row of seats, I noticed that behind the beautifully painted red seats were old, ugly, peeling dark-green chairs. I figured that would be where our seats would be located. When we finally climbed up to our row, there was a woman there who declared, " I cannot sit in MY seats! They hurt my back! I was in an accident!" While this made no sense - our seats seemed the same as hers (one row ahead, and much nicer) - I tried to find a solution with the smallest possible fuss. I asked if she was alone. It turns out the person she came with was in her correct seat. I asked if she wanted to switch - so that - according to her wishes - she could sit in the crappy, old, uncomfortable seats, and we could sit ahead of them in the newer red chairs. This was fine with her as she repeated, in a voice that seemed to peel even MORE paint off of her chair, "I can't sit in those seats! I was in an accident ! I have a bad back! " The person she came with (her sister ?) was already fed up with this woman, and they continued yelling and bickering to each other - climaxing with "I wish you had died in that accident !"

Peace and love. Peace and love.

The woman with the bad back kept trying to interact with us, offering to show us her tour programme, and alerting us that she was in an accident, and had a bad back. I tried to not start any dialogue with her, and her sister was also trying to tell her that no one was interested in what she had to say, and to leave us alone. It also sounded like the injured woman wondered why I wanted to sit next to my girl friend, because I heard the "sister" say that "they're a couple!"

Soon, it would be Show Time !

. . . to be continued . . .