The Leonard and Friends tour had Texas concerts in Dallas,
Corpus Christi, and Houston. I needed to
visit my aunt Bev near Corpus Christi and so I booked in for
Dallas and Corpus Christi and then later in Houston. Besides that reason, I first saw the band
Chicago in Corpus Christi in 1974 so I felt a connection to see L&F in the
same town.
I flew into Love field, rented a car, and traveled around Dallas
reminiscing of my two work experiences in the area. The concert venue, Canton Hall, was in Deep Ellum
which was seedy when I was previously here, and while not perfect it was much
more pleasant this time. I was seated in
the fifth row and the concert was great.
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| Killing time at my old pub, The GingerMan |
The meet and greet was after the concert and I got a chance to speak to
some other members of the band and clearly discovered that language was an
issue but good nevertheless.
I had a flight to Corpus Christi the next morning.
This leg was much more in the way of reminiscing.
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| The old Reynold Metals plant, worked there in 1978-79(?). |
I got out of the airport with enough time to
get over to Portland and drive through, seeing various places and realized it's
a small small world when you're in high school.
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| The grandparent's home. Gone is the tree I fell out of and broke my arm. |
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| 118 Daniel Moore. First place we lived in Portland |
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| 215 Ghent Place. Last place we lived in Portland. |
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| The Selena Tribute at the CC Bayfront |
Lunch was at a Luby's cafeteria as a nod to mom's favorite dining spot.
I also stopped by mom’s final resting place
to leave flowers.
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| This became a brick in my stomach |
The Corpus Christi concert venue was somewhat unusual.
It was a converted open warehouse with open
sides any small stage for the band.
Being
that I was from the area I half expected to have somebody recognize me from
high school.
Especially when Roman, the
band manager, called me out from the stage as a person following the band.
Great concert.
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| The front row has a great view. |
The next morning I did a final drive around Corpus Christi and
Portland then traveled inland to meet my aunt, cousin, and family.
It was a good experience to see them and
catch up for a short amount of time we had.
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| Cousin Reed, Aunt Bev, and me |
Then I drove to Houston for the next concert.
I got to the venue, Dosey Doe, too late to have
the required dinner so I asked that it be packaged for takeaway.
I said down, ordered a drink and the band came on.
This was my least
favorite venue due to the tightly-packed seating, and I was seated behind a
large tall person.
By the last third of
the concert, I left my seat to find and say goodbye to Kristina.
I met Kristina at the Dallas concert where
she manned the merchandise table.
I was up early for a flight on to Tampa to visit Tracy and
the Hobie crowd.
