Friday night: Seeing my son Gabriel’s band The Collies play at a bar in Mt. Lookout.
Saturday during the day: working on a basement clean-up project.
Saturday night: Maggie Rose/Molly Tuttle concert in Lexington, KY with Gabriel. (MP Gannon rules!)
Sunday morning: kayaking with my friend Matt. His wife passed away back in February. Friday would’ve been her 50th birthday. I’m making an concerted effort to catch up with him on a regular basis. (I also organized a happy hour with some of our old co-workers a few weeks back.)
Sunday night: Built to Spill/Wussy concert at Ludlow Garage, with Gabriel and my daughter Leah. (First concert that we’ve gone to together!)
I’m not retired (yet!) but when the topic comes up in casual conversation (as it often does for people in my age bracket), some folks interrogate me with variations on these questions:
“But what will you do all day when you’re retired?” and
“Aren’t you afraid of getting bored?”
My answer to #1 is “more of the above” – more concerts, more time with my family (hmm, I probably should reverse the order of those two…), more home projects, more kayaking (and yes, more pickleball), more travel, more time with friends, more reading, more writing, more podcasting, and more of whatever the heck I want to do. (And yes, probably more naps.)
And my answer to #2 is an emphatic NO! I have waay too many interests for that to happen.
Right now I’m working for the weekend. I am starting to look forward to a permanent weekend. Especially if they’re like this past one!
On Saturday, I drove down to Lexington, KY with my oldest kid Gabriel to see an outdoor show at The Burl. (Great place to see a show, btw.)
It was a co-headlining tour, Maggie Rose and Molly Tuttle. I’d just seen Molly Tuttle a few weeks prior. And yes, I’ve been known to double down on artists I enjoy seeing. (Looking at you, Gladie.) But the real reason for the road trip was the guitarist for Maggie Rose’s band. MP Gannon. The dude’s an amazing guitar player.
And he has a fantastic, soulful voice to boot.
And I’d say that even if he weren’t my first cousin once removed.
But he IS my first cousin once removed, and that makes it even cooler! (I know him better as Michael Patrick.)
This doesn’t exactly qualify as a news bulletin, but I love music. And seeing my cousin’s kid up on stage, in front of a rapt audience, doing his thing… goosebumps the entire time! (I can only imagine how my cousin Patty and her husband Paul feel when they see their son on stage.)
In her set, Maggie performed a cover of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” — a ballad made famous by Bonnie Raitt*. If you’re gonna do that classic (or any Bonnie Raitt song, really), you’d better have the voice to back it up.
And Maggie does, in spades.
*that song was co-written by former Cincinnati Bengal defensive tackle Mike Reid, a two-time Pro Bowler whose songwriting career has far eclipsed his gridiron greatness.
Maggie recorded a duet version of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” song with Vince Gill. Which means MP has some pretty big shoes to fill in concert. TBH, I prefer his voice to Vince’s. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my first cousin once removed. (But, as previously established, he IS!)
Speaking o’ big shoes to fill, for Molly Tuttle’s encore, Maggie Rose and MP joined Molly’s band for rousing renditions of “She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones and “Up on Cripple Creek” by The Band. MP sang a verse of the latter – meaning he was channeling Levon Helm… merely my favorite member of one of my favorite bands. (Because Levon, the only non-Canadian member of The Band, was from my old stomping grounds of Arkansas.)
MP is based in Nashville. And as the Lovin’ Spoonful famously told us in their song “Nashville Cats”:
Well, there’s thirteen hundred and fifty two Guitar pickers in Nashville And they can pick more notes than the number of ants On a Tennessee ant hill
To snag a gig as a touring “guitar picker” is a big hill to climb. To become an integral part of Maggie Rose’s band in just a year with them is a testament to his talent, and his dedication to the craft.
“Chad” (a.k.a. our 2008 Honda CR-V) recently hit a mileage milestone.
240,000 miles. And he’s not dead yet.
Most of those miles were courtesy of previous owners. We got “Chad” (our kids named him… er, I mean, it) nearly 8 years ago. He already had clocked 181,000 by then. As “used” as used can be.
But nearly 60K is certainly something to celebrate. That’s a lot of trips to high school for our kids. A lot of trips to work for me (although I often take the bus – Chad deserves a break). Grocery gettin’. Driving to pickleball or concerts (my two most frequent trips).
Yes, we’ve had to put some money into repairs and general maintenance. But we’re probably making the equivalent of a monthly car payment about two or three times a year, instead of 12. And I’ve got a mechanic who does side-hustle work on nights and weekends for much lower rates than the dealer or other repair shops.
“Buy and hold” – that’s our stock philosophy and our car philosophy.
There’s no touchscreen display. No bluetooth. No backup camera. No heated seats. Nothing fancy. Just dependable. When you turn the key, Chad starts. And goes. And keeps on going. And as long as that happens, we’ll keep rolling with Chad.
It’s my buddy Matt, his wife Danielle, and their kids Hannah and Donald.
Matt’s a great dude. We worked together for 14 years. Fellow Xavier alums. You won’t meet a more gregarious guy than Matt. He knows everyone, and is always quick to help folks connect. A true “glue guy” in the best sense.
He’s a giver too. When his wife Danielle was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, he took it upon himself to spearhead our company’s involvement in the Ride Cincinnati event that raises funds for local cancer research, education, and care. Heck, he even rode a bike into one of our all-company meetings to drum up more riders and support.
A couple of years ago, he had nice things to say about our Ride ride (no, I didn’t stutter) and about me.
Right back at you, Matt!
Here’s the All-American family today:
Danielle fought the good fight. She was beating breast cancer. But then, a few months ago, the cancer had not only returned but had spread rapidly. She passed away last month. She was 49. So young. So unfair.
“Heartbreaking” doesn’t do it justice. To have been side by side with your life partner through the cancer battle (double mastectomy, chemo, radiation, dozens of doctors visits and tests…) and to hope and pray that maybe you were one of the lucky ones… only to have the cancer come back with a vengeance, and have your whole life upended in the blink of an eye.
And now Matt’s a single parent, raising two young kids. The math doesn’t work nearly as well – not just financially, but also from a practical standpoint. Soccer, baseball, theater, whatever… one person can’t be in two places at the same time. We take “watching the kids” for granted when we have a spouse. When that partner passes away, it creates an enormous void, across the board. Emotionally. Mentally. Physically. Practically. And yes, financially. Friends of Matt have set up a GoFundMe for the puzzle that will always have a piece missing.
“If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you”
My dad faced that same void. Four kids under age 7, and a wife passing away from leukemia at the age of 33. So young. So unfair.
I don’t think my dad ever really recovered. How can you? But I’ll do my best to make sure that Matt, the gregarious guy I know and love, has my support. Not just this month, but ongoing. It’ll take a lot of love and support. Which can be as simple as giving one of his kids a ride to practice.
We can’t fill the void, but I hope we can make it slightly less scary.
This past weekend, my wife and my son Peter flew to Hilton Head, SC to run a half-marathon.
Meanwhile, I drove 278 miles to Nashville on Saturday to see The Beths in concert.
Oh, and then I drove another 88 miles to Lexington, KY on Sunday to see Kathleen Edwards in concert.
The thought of running around the block, much less 13.1 miles, doesn’t appeal to me at all. Yet I’m fine standing for two hours at a show. I don’t know about a “runner’s high” but I do know that hearing a great song live sends my spirits soaring.
Tina and Peter got a finisher’s medal after the race.
I got a setlist after Kathleen Edwards’ show.
My wife’s trying to run a race in every state. I think South Carolina was #26 or #27.
I don’t have a goal to see a concert in every state. But maybe I should.
They’re different kinds of miles, but they’re totally worth it if they bring you joy, and you’re making memories in the process.
Live music is my marathon. I’ll never stop running.
Mrs. Dubbatrubba and I took a rather circuitous route to the D.C. area for our goddaughter’s wedding a couple of weeks ago. We spent nearly a week in Maine – mainly because we’d always wanted to visit “Vacationland” and August seemed like a good month to do it.
Maine was as advertised: absolutely gorgeous! We didn’t spend a ton of time indoors. Quite to the contrary, we walked and hiked all over the place: Portland, Freeport, Rockland, Rockport, Camden, Belfast, Stonington, Boothbay, and two days at Acadia National Park.
Oh, and we sailed on a schooner too, as one does in Maine.
It’s hard to name a favorite, but it’ll be tough to top the hike up the Beehive Trail at Acadia. For someone like me who has become more fearful of heights as I’ve gotten older, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. Do a quick image search and you’ll see shots like these:
I was thisclose to chickening out (you can get to the summit via a less challenging path). But I didn’t want to let Mrs. Dubbatrubba down (as I have sooo many times before).
We hit the trail right after we saw the sunrise….
… and we had the place pretty much to ourselves, which meant no waiting, and less time to think about what I was doing.
So worth it, and I’m so glad I did it.
Another highlight was a hike outside of Camden. My wife asked a local (the schooner check-in kid) if there were places we could pick blueberries nearby, and he dropped a pin on the map for a nature preserve trail that started in the forest and ended in acres of blueberry bushes. What a treat – literally and figuratively.
Of course, all that hiking makes you thirsty, so we HAD to sample the wares of the local breweries.
It was our civic duty!
We put a beautiful bow on our Maine meanderings by meeting up with my cousin Tom and his wife Alena in Portland.
(Apologies for the horrible lighting. We’ll never be influencers with shots like that.)
The fresh air, the natural beauty, the ability to relax and unwind… 10 out of 10 across the board! Actually, make that 11!
Photo dump is below – click on any image to see it full size, and use the arrows to scroll through. I know you may be thinking that we just went to an Olan Mills photography studio and changed the backdrops, but we really were in Maine!
1 response to “Maine-ly outdoors”
Kelly
The Maine trip looks awesome! How about a picture of the fabulous wedding?!☺️
Damian on Uno, dos, tres, cuatro…: “That’s where my head was for the title as well, Chuck! Great musical minds…” Jun 2, 21:36
Chuck Wiggins on Uno, dos, tres, cuatro…: “The extent of my high school Spanish memory is being able to to the count off at the beginning of…” Jun 2, 11:19
Thomas Kuhl on M.P.G. the M.V.P.: “I see the resemblance especially with the facial features?!?” May 19, 03:19
Chuck Wiggins on M.P.G. the M.V.P.: ““I Can’t Make You Love Me” is a fabulous song – I love the clip above, so will go searching…” May 18, 13:19
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