Nothin’ But A Good Time

March 20, 2019

Bret Michaels 

The Sound of Music

Texas Bluebonnets

Nothin’ But A Good Time

Back in the eighties, I went to see the hair metal band Poison a couple of times. I was not a huge fan, though their songs were radio staples and at that time (much as today), I would go and see just about any band every chance I got. I don’t really remember much about seeing Poison, the times I saw them they were pretty good, standard shows for the times with a lot of hair spray, pyrotechnics and loud sing a longs with the crowd. When it was announced that former Poison lead singer Bret Michaels was going to be playing a show at the Key West Theater, I decided to get my standard table in the front row and take a chance.

Aine

Ray and Casey

Bret and Debbie

Joined by my friend Ray and his girlfriend Casey, a reluctant Kathy and I took our seats in the front row, ordered a few drinks and waited to see what would happen. The first thing I noticed was the sheer number of women about our age who were there and dressed to the nines in their best heavy metal eighties fashion. Women who we see regularly were suddenly decked out in tight jeans, vintage Poison shirts, Cowboy hats and boots, recreating their youthful style.

 

Maureen and Debbie

It was quite a scene. Unlike any previous show that we had seen at the Theater, the crowd packed into the aisles just behind our table, crushing forward to try and get as close as possible to Michaels. We certainly did not have high expectations for the show, which may be why we were so damned surprised at just how amazing it was. Bret Michaels came out with his band in a truly buoyant mood, leaping about the stage, repeatedly shaking hands and interacting with the audience and even having fans sing on the microphone on his more popular songs.

His set was not all that long, but he covered all the best of Poison, a few of his solo songs and some great covers including a fun Kiss cover. The show was so fun, Michaels amazing mood feeding off a raucous crowd and vice versa. It may not have been the best show we have ever seen, but it certainly was one of the best times that we have had at a show in a long time, even Kathy was converted and really enjoyed it. 

Like it or not, Poison was a popular band of our generation and we all knew their songs from their repeated radio and MTV airplay, I think everyone our age knows “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”.  Michaels announced from the stage how much he loved visiting and playing in Key West and vowed to return and play another show next year, sign us up because if it is anything like this one, it will be a rollicking good time.

This week also saw us attending a show of a totally different nature as the traveling Broadway production of “The Sound of Music” was in town for two nights at the Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center and as season ticket holders, we had our usual seats for the show. I am so glad that we went as it may have been the finest of the many traveling road versions of Broadway productions that we have seen. It was really top notch with a cast that was universally strong. The children who played the Von Trapp kids were especially good, but the entire cast just knocked it out of the park. 

It was everything you could expect from the best of Broadway, in fact I enjoyed it so much that I came back for the second night for an encore presentation and I can honestly say that even at three hours long, it was easy to sit through a second time. It was a great way to start off the week. At the end of the week, I headed to Austin, Texas to attend the inaugural Indy Car race at the Circuit of the Americas there.

Upon arrival in Austin, I had some time before heading to the track so I decided to visit the Austin Nature Center in Zilker Park. Every year when we attend the Austin City Limits music festival, I walk by the nature center on my way in to the concert and I have always wanted to check it out, but it always closed during ACL. It was open this time and turns out to be a nice little nature center nestled into the woods around the park. It is a beautiful setting and there are a number of injured and rehabilitated birds of prey and small mammals which cannot be released back into the wild.