Thunderstruck Chronicles P.3

The Girls Make it Through a Two Hour Face Melter! (Day 48)

Many thanks to Chris Wood for letting us use this super picture taken from the stage at Tupelo Music Hall. Myself and the girls are located far right, about three people up. You can sort of see me with a black vest, and Little Bean holding up a drum stick to my right!

Right before song number four of the evening, lead singer Bobby Lee Stamper looks over at the girls and says, “We want to dedicate this next song to two little ladies in the audience.” The girls look at each other and laugh as the iconic guitar riff of their favorite song floats down over the room and the band lays down an absolutely fire version of “Thunderstruck.” There was no way that Thunderstruck wasn’t going to play “Thunderstruck.”

And so went our evening.

We got lucky in a few ways. First, the table next to us was empty for some reason, which meant that the girls were able to spin their chairs around, face the stage which was only about ten feet away, and really spread out. This helped because they basically banged their drumsticks together for the whole show.

Second, we were right on the aisle between table rows, which gave them a clean shot for the million times they needed to go use the bathroom.

Third, it enabled me to position myself behind them in a way that gave them some freedom from being monitored every second by an adult but allowed me to see them every second at the same time. Bonus: I was able to enjoy the show as well.

Little Bean played drums for basically the whole show.

This isn’t a review, by the way. Thunderstruck is a tribute band and they do an excellent job in musicianship, manners, looks and attitude in bringing the spirit of AC/DC to the shows.

The played all the hits, including Little Bean’s favorite, “Whole Lotta Rosie,” where I thought she was going to shatter her sticks she was banging them so hard. The girls lasted through the whole two hours, and for the most part, were bouncing and clapping the whole way.

Even the section where guitarist Kyle LaPato took a stroll through the auditorium and ended up shredding right in front of Little Bean and Di was handled with laughter. After, Little Bean said, “Daddy, that guy had no shirt on and he was super sweaty.” That’s rock and roll, baby.

“Sweaty” Kyle came down and shredded right in front of the girls.

The evening was grand, our ears rang and our throats were sore. We left exhausted and hyper with bellies full of greasy food and nacho cheese. This is well and proper and how any rock and roll or metal show should leave you feeling.

But I’ve been thinking about the experience for the last few days - this particular cover band specifically, but about classic rock and the type of music that I’m becoming reconnected to in general - and I feel the past few months of my musical journey with Little Bean warrants more thought and attention.

I have questions I need to start answering. Growing up, I turned to music (I’m guessing we all did) as a form of self-identification and a way to set my path. All those moments in between homework, and school pressure and troubles in my family, and money problems; all those waves made smoother by a pair of head-phones, my record player and CCR, or Kansas, or ELO. Or AC/DC.

This is important. And now I see my own daughter feeling that same sense of both freedom and belonging - a claiming of personal art, and a community of like-minded lovers of the same music. She’s beginning to get it, to understand why I feel like I do about music.

This has been a return for me, a reintroduction to the music that - well - created me. And now is building her. And I just can’t wait until she begins to discover her own music. Her own tastes and bands. I’m eager to say yes on the day she asks ME to come with HER to see one of her favorite bands.

Or maybe when that happens, I won’t be cool enough. Maybe I’ll just be her driver. Or maybe she’ll continue listening the the rock and metal that I love, but she’ll find her own new, current bands to love. She’s already found that with The Warning. Just wait until I introduce her to Japanese metal! Or Led Zeppelin.

But like a live show and indeed like music in general (at least good music), the journey should be unpredictable and surprising. The music should be freeing and joyful. And so far, it has been

Happiness is… smoke machines!

Meantime, after the final strains of the final song, “For Those About to Rock,” the crowd begins to clear out and the band comes out to begin cleaning up. Guitarist Kevin Feller hops down off stage to pose once again with the girls and bassist Chris Jones grabs a set list off the stage and hands it to Little Bean, who gets the whole band to sign it.

Out in the lobby, a pack of slightly tipsy middle aged blondes are crowding around a still shirtless Kyle while a bunch of husbands and boyfriends high five and slap each other on their backs. Rock and roll does still live. It’s right here before us, in the moms and dads and in kids of those parents.

“Time to go, daddy,” Little Bean is saying, and she grabs my hand. The girls made it all the way through and they are beat.

“Rock on, girls, hope you had fun,” singer Bobby Lee says to Little Bean and Di as we head out into the night.

One more step along the path of righteousness. One more joint. One more note. We do indeed rock on.

Little Bean’s signed set lists from The Warning and Thunderstruck.

Thank you for joining us these past few days as we’ve explored our rock and roll souls in The Thunderstruck Chronicles. Parts 1 and 2 are available in the archives.

Many thanks to the band that made the adventure so great for the girls. Go give some love to the band, link here: Thunderstruck. Little Bean and I, along with her friend, Di, had been preparing for this day for months and we thought it would be fun to give our readers and music fans a little taste of the wonderful, chaotic, unexpected day we experienced. Hope you all enjoyed the series!

Looking ahead, we have a whole set of topics in the que to write about, starting with school choir concerts, trails to Christmas trees, robot stem programs and who knows what else.

When we made the decision to maintain this journal as a general topics as opposed to specialty site, we risked alienating readers who longed for one certain thing or the other. And while I do see drops in subscribers, the adds are always greater so I guess we’re doing something right here.

So thank you! And as always, we appreciate any help to keeping this strange, little, daily musing going with donations, subscriptions or, most importantly, shares. Thanks for sticking around. We’ll see ya tomorrow! Onward!