Clapton...

When I was 17 I saw the first concert that gave me chills and made me visibly emotional. I saw her walk onto the stage with her sky high boots and more glitter and fringe than any other woman in the world could ever pull off. When Stevie Nicks welcomed all of us to the show I was overwhelmed with emotion and stayed on that high for days afterward. 

Last night I had that feeling again. Ten Fold. I really did not even know how to deal with myself. When he stepped on stage my entire body became covered in goose bumps. When he played his first chord I became a blubbering mess. Even tonight when I tried to recount the event for my mom I got choked up. I'm just going to say it Eric Clapton is the fucking man. Hands down! I have spent my life in the presence of  musicians and music lovers all of whom would have traded places with me in an instant; even though I was in the second to last row (of course I worked my way toward the floor at the end of the show). I didn't tape as much as I could have because I was too excited. Here are a few highlights though. He played some classics like Layla, I shot the sheriff, Cocaine, Wonderful Tonight (first song I ever slow danced to) and his encore was one of my personal favorites Crossroads.

As most people know I love Hard Rock Cafe's. Each time I visit one I get my dad a guitar pin. It's just a thing I've done since I was about 15 and it helps me share my travels with him even if vicariously. If there is anyone I wish I could have teleported in last night it would have been my dad. He would have been over the moon more than me, Liz or our chikooing friend Jordan combined. Why mention the HRC pins? Well Eric Clapton is the reason the Hard Rock Cafe is what it is today. 

Back in the seventies, Clapton liked to eat at this quirky American diner in London called the Hard Rock Cafe. The place was this funky old building that used to be a Rolls Royce dealership, and it was run by a couple of young Americans who liked to keep it loose. Founded by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, two enterprising and music-loving Americans, Hard Rock Cafe was an instant classic. You could be yourself at the Hard Rock. It was good food and a good time. 

So Clapton got to be friends with the proprietors and asked them to save him a regular table, put up a brass plaque or something. And the young proprietors said, “Why don't we put up your guitar?” They all had a chuckle, and he handed over a guitar, and they slapped it on the wall. No one thought much more about it. Until a week later, when another guitar arrived (a Gibson Les Paul, by the way). With it was a note from Pete Townshend of The Who which read: "Mine's as good as his. Love, Pete."