Keeping the Faith

Erich bought me a camaro for losing half of myself/my one-year, post-op anniversary. I decided to give myself a present and last week, I collected. My friend Randi and I headed to Toronto to see a Bon Jovi/Kid Rock double bill at the Rogers Centre (previously the Skydome).

When the tickets went on sale, I thought the timing was great. A little gift to myself for all my hard work! Plus, Bon Jovi is my favorite band. Kid Rock is a close second. I kept telling people the only thing that would make the show more perfect is if Bo was the third act!

I have a serious history with Bon Jovi, though. The first concert I ever attended was to see them and Cinderella in Huntington, West Virginia back in 1987. It was a general admission show and I missed two days of school: One to stand in line and one to recover from the experience. LOL! My parents were tolerant, bless 'em. That concert made me fall in love with live music and I've been going to all the shows I can every since. I was never a huge JON Bon Jovi fan, though. The band's lead guitarist, Richie Sambora, was my first love. Oh yeah! GUITAR PLAYERS baby! My Bo before Bo, if you will. And lemme tell ya, when he and Bo teamed up for Vehicle, I was in heaven. Heh.

I had been given the ok to intake caffeine again by my surgeon, so before we left town we went to Starbucks for iced coffees. I'd never had one before but it was pretty damn good! I got sugar-free caramel syrup in mine. I recommend it for sure. However, I have perfected the homemade, sugar-free, caffeine-free (if you so desire) iced cappuccino. I'l put the recipe at the bottom of the blog.

There is a lot of walking in Toronto. LOL! Randi and I drove to a mall on the outskirts of town and took the subway downtown to the Rogers Centre because well, you don't really want to be driving in Toronto if you can help it. Think driving in downtown Manhattan. Not a good idea. As we went through the turnstile to get on, I was reminded of the subway back in Washington, D.C. that I'd been on a few years ago and how that turnstile stopped me cold at the time. I was already quite upset (long story) and when I saw that narrow turnstile, I thought 'my god, what if I can't get through that?' I had to turn sideways and get on my tiptoes so it was my thighs going through it and not my midsection. I made it. But this time, I walked through it normally, no need to even turn sideways.

So we got off at Union Station and hoofed it the rest of the way. We were both kinda giggling at how pre-op, this would've been so hard for both of us. We picked up our super-cool tickets (7th row behind the pit, ya'll!) and hoofed it some more so we could eat before the show. We walked all the way to King Street's entertainment district and got some grub at Dunn's Deli then walked back to the venue. Soooo much walking. Absolutely no problem though. That was pretty awesome.

As soon as we got inside, we headed to the merch table. I have never in my life gone to a concert and been able to buy a t-shirt. I did finally get a Bo shirt at the fan club party last month and that one was my first. But as many times as I've seen Bon Jovi (maybe...7 or 8? not sure), I do not own a Bon Jovi tour t-shirt. Or any other band's tour t-shirt. Well, I do now! I told Erich before I left, "I may spend $100. I want both shirts." One for Bon Jovi and one for Kid Rock. He was fine with that. Unlike Bo's $20 shirts, I knew these would be $40 or $50 each. The women's shirts were those ridiculous babydoll-sized ones where the XL is more like a small or medium. So I got a man's XL Bon Jovi and a large Kid Rock. They didn't have an XL Kid Rock shirt and I was a little worried about that but when I tried them both on later at home....well, I should've got the large Bon Jovi! The XL was a bit too big. Crazy, crazy stuff.

I also bought a Bon Jovi program because I have one from each tour of theirs I've attended since that concert in '87. I always bought programs because I couldn't buy wear the shirts. And since I had such a collection already, I bit the bullet and got another one.

When we got to our seats, they were those little folding chairs tied together, the things of my nightmares pre-op. LOL! But we sat down and had no problems. The funny thing is, the guy beside me apologized for crowding me. Can you even imagine? I've had people ask to move rather than sit beside me at a concert. Actually got up, went to the usher and pointed over to me shaking their head. And now someone is feeling badly for crowding me and spilling over into my area. It really makes my head spin. Of course I told him he was fine. And he was - he was more worried about it than the reality of the problem, I think. Which is typical. I was the same way. I mean, he wasn't huge, he was just a big guy. Those seats in venues like that are ridiculous. But even if he was taking up his seat and half of mine I would've just sucked it up.

The concert was FABULOUS!! From the first note of Kid Rock to the last of Bon Jovi, we were both up pretty much all the time. Dancing, singing and carrying on. We had a complete blast. I've never been able to be up like that for that long. And despite the puddle of beer I had to stand in - with my flip-flops - from the first song on, it was a great night. Seriously, the alcohol always finds me. Even when I used to go to bars to hear my friends' bands play, if there was a drink spilled it went all over ME. ME, who doesn't drink. Never failed. Sigh.

Bobby doing what he does best. Seriously. OMG. *fans self* I know every single word to this song - well, to all his songs. I love him. LOL!



Bo has said before that he would like to work with Kid Rock. I really don't know if I could handle that. Too much!! Of course, I did live through Bo and Richie so maybe it'd be ok. LOL!!

I never realize how much I miss seeing Bon Jovi, and Richie in particular, till they hit the stage. Wow. If only had the money to go see them like I do Bo! Amazing. These are videos I took. I was watching for the video police and strayed a couple times during the first one. And you can tell where my heart lies by who I follow with the camera. LOL!



Jon does a fantastic rendition of Hallelujah. I had to get it. Sorry the sound isn't better. It should've been fine.



I didn't get home till almost 2 a.m. but it was worth it. A fine re-birthday present to myself, I think. Thank you, Randi! For EVERYTHING!!

A few pictures I took.

Kid Rock:







Bon Jovi:







Homemade Sugar-Free, Caffeine-Free Iced Cappuccino

2 oz. boiling water
1 tablespoon instant coffee
3 packets of Splenda
8 ice cubes
1/3 cup skim milk
1/2 oz. Toriani sugar-free chocolate syrup
1/2 oz. Toriani sugar-free caramel syrup

Mix first three ingredients together to make a syrup and put into a blender. Add ice cubes and blend till slushy. Add milk and blend till frothy.

I used Maxwell House caffeine-free coffee; you can use more if you want a stronger coffee taste, too. This is pretty damn good. I found a recipe online and tweaked it quite a bit till I got this. This suits my tastes pretty well but you can play around with it till you get what you like.

I'm heading home to Ohio for the week and it will be good to see my family. Most I haven't seen since last summer. Then next weekend, before we come back to Ontario, there are two Bo shows to look forward to. A very busy week ahead of me! The good thing is, I know I have the energy now to do it all and more.