Homegrown

One of the things I love about living in Charleston is that every year hometown boys (and one of my favorite bands!) Hootie and the Blowfish do a charity concert at the Family Circle Cup on Daniel Island. Whenever the time comes around you have to snag tickets pronto because it sells out almost immediately! We missed the pre-sale, but ended up getting decent seats the following day during the general sale. The concert benefits local schools and attendees are encouraged to bring school supplies for schools in need, which we always do. I heard that before the concert they also offered haircuts and dental check-ups for school children. How cool is that?

Before the show we met Samantha for dinner at Ali Baba. I had the chicken kabob, basmati rice, Mediterranean pasta and pita. This was our first time eating there and it was delicious! The pita bread was probably the best I have ever had! I wish I knew more about cooking Mediterranean food. A couple of days later I attempted to duplicate the pasta and think I came pretty close. Robin and I ate off of it for several days. Ziti, olive oil, feta, peppers, pasta, fresh basil, parsley, oregano and lemon juice = Yum!

After dinner we headed over to the arena, which is just across the street. We immediately bumped into my good friend Devin, who was photographing the event for Charleston's Post and Courier newspaper. He said that we needed to go get our seats so we wouldn't miss the opening band, Crowfield, who are locals about to make it big (or so I'm told). I was so bummed because I was tired and cranky and just wanted to see Hootie and go home! Devin assured me that I would not be disappointed.

Samantha has a really hard time climbing stairs since she was sick last year so we went to search for the elevator. We were told by security that it was at the end of the arena near the stage so we walked in that direction. When we got there we didn't see the elevator so we asked the next security guard and he said there was only one elevator and it was practically back stage and he couldn't let us go any further unsupervised. Huh? The Family Circle Tennis arena has only one elevator?? How is that possible? I asked him how they accommodate physically challenged people and he had no answer. He just said that he couldn't leave his post and that if we really needed to use the elevator we would have to go search for another security person to escort us. Wow. Shame on the Family Circle Cup Arena for having only one, inaccessible elevator for patrons!

After the whole elevator fiasco (yes, we found an escort) we grabbed our seats and waited for the show to begin.

(photo by Devin Grant)

Crowfield took the stage and I must say… Devin was right! Wow! They totally rocked. I was a little afraid of their wacky fans sitting in our section, mostly of this one girl with a homemade Crowfield t-shirt! She was all over the place and wouldn’t sit down. Pretty annoying. Actually, most of the people in the crowd were annoying. We were apparently sitting in the middle of the drunk and obnoxious section. Ugh. Samantha kept trying to give me some of her “stress tablets”. I finally took a couple just to get her to stop asking me to take some! (They didn’t help my crankiness!)

I loved Crowfield, but I don’t love their name. There is a subdivision in the town where I live called Crowfield and I jokingly asked if that’s where they live. They really could have picked a better name!

When we were watching Crowfield I was checking out all the members of the band and the first thing I thought was that the singer had the most amazing eyes but he had all this facial hair that I just couldn’t get past. I think I’m showing my age. I feel like an old lady thinking to myself “He’d be so handsome if he would just shave all that off!” I think I’m slowly turning into my Mom! Eeek!

When my attention turned to the side of the stage I did a double take! Holy cow! It was Jonathan from one of my all time favorite bands (who also happen to be local!) Jump, Little Children! They broke up several years ago and I miss them soooo much! I knew it was Jonathan, even from where we were sitting, because he was playing the upright bass and there was that trademark handlebar mustache! Devin was in front of the stage taking his photographs and I sent him a text message asking for a confirmation. I guess Jonathan is going to possibly be joining Crowfield as a permanent member!

I must say, it was nice seeing Hootie again... it has been a while! Last year, because of the rising popularity of Darius's solo career, the Homegrown concert was he and Dierks Bentley. I love Darius's solo stuff, but there's nothing like seeing a Hootie concert in Charleston!

Speaking of Charleston, Darius just released his new video for "Come Back Song" starring our lovely city!

I'm concerned that Darius is standing where the critters lurk! It must have been low tide... better him than me!

I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful place!