Note: there are many links in this post. A few are links back to previous posts that I have written that relate to what you will read here. The other links are a special treat for you..a hidden playlist of select Allman Brothers tunes.  Have a read of the post and go back and listen. Enjoy.

Back in April I wrote a post titled, "The Ballad of the Music Fan and the Stolen Mix Tape", about the origins of my need passion for consuming music and searching for the stories that are being told within the music and by those who listen to it.  In that post I talked about a lot about "stories".  Here is a bit of what I said: 

"...What really struck me though was the story they were telling/playing for me.  This is where I really got hooked and this is what still hooks me to this day.  The stories that are being told through the music, the back-stories of those who made the music and my own stories that are created from these musical experiences is what turns me on. That is what makes the music come alive for me. It is why I listen and why the songs, lyrics and people are inextricably linked to who I am."

So true.  

This particular story..of the "Music Fan and the Mix Tape"... is not finished.  In fact it never was nor will it be.  As with any good story, it is told over and over and over again.  As with any good story, people allow it to  live on by retelling it.  And, as with any good story...there is always a next chapter. 

In Part 1, I was talking about how a single incident with a stolen mix tape turned me into the passionate and dedicated music fan that I am today (you may want to have a read of that first post before going any further).  The other character (and I do mean character) in the story was the owner and creator of that stolen mix tape ("Mix Tape Guy"). He and I have not been in touch much in the last decade...especially not since I moved to Australia. When we do bump into each other, it is a good catch up over a beer and always a mention, comment or story about music. He may be the biggest music-head I know and I know me very well.

Lately I have been running into him a lot...on Facebook.  Facebook...ah, the great communicator and connector of people.   Since we friended eachother, we have been talking up music and sharing some great links. Not surprisingly, we both keep an online list of our music collection. I sent him my list (which is 1,300+) strong and he sent me his. Between the two of us we have three-quarters of Rock and Roll, two-thirds of the blues and heaping handfuls of Soul, Country and R&B...covered.
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I have lived in Australia for four and a half years and I have not yet once traveled back to the States for a visit.  My wife and I have traveled to many other places since then, but I have not been home (my wife has been four times).  There is no specific reason why. When I commit to something, I get locked in. There is so much to experience, that in my head that going home...even for a short visit...felt like a step back.  That being said, this past May I booked my first ticket back to the States.  Home Turf.  Back where it all began. Time to go home and go check up on how all of my skeletons are doing.

My plane was to fly in on the 23rd August and stay until half way through September.  Aside from seeing my family, there were a couple other happenings I wanted to check out: a Sox game at Fenway and any concerts by (my) bands that just don't make it to Australia.  The Sox tickets were easy.  I purchased three tickets in row AA in the right field grandstands, smack dab in front of the Pesky Pole. The next thing I did was hit the mojo wire looking for cool gigs at old haunts...the Casino Ballroom in Hampton, NH, the Oprpheum Theatre in Boston, the Boston Garden and that beacon of summer and youth...Great Woods in Mansfield, Massachusetts (today people call it the Comcast Center). 

I went on the Ticketmaster site and it was slim pickings for bands I was interested in...until I scrolled down and saw just what I needed to see.  The Allman Brothers were playing at Great Woods on Saturday the 30th August.  Did I read that right?  The Allmans.  At Great Woods.  On a Saturday. In the summer.  During the time I would be home. Hot Damn!  The Allmans have never come to Australia, but I sure have gone to the Allmans...28 times to be exact (how many of those shows I actually remember is another thing entirely).