The Swing Time Jazz Band

Every summer our fair city holds free concerts at the local middle school. There is a nice variety: jazz, swing, orchestra and ending the season with a blue grass festival. Last night I took Riley and Lucy to see The Swing Time Jazz Band. We had a delightful time.

I packed the girls in the stroller and we were ready for anything. We hiked to the middle school and got there too early. The band had decided it was too chilly to play outside so they were moving into the school's new auditorium. We headed into the building and found ourselves some seats near the stage where there was room to spread out and dance if we felt so moved.

The girls were quickly restless and running in different directions; Lucy up the stairs to the stage, Riley to the back of the auditorium where the drinking fountains were. But we managed to hold it together until the band started up. Little did I know that we would soon be the belles of the ball. All of the families with young children showed up right around the start of the show, and before I knew it I was riding herd on about 7 girls ranging from ages 1 to 14.

I didn't have much trouble, though. The girls were nice to each other and spent their time running back and forth in front of the stage, dancing and running up and down the aisles. No one seemed to mind too much. Mostly the room was filled with the elderly and the parents of these wild children.

Lucy was driven to climb the sloping aisle towards the top of the auditorium, play with the little boy and his mother who were sitting up there and then plod back down the aisle to try to make another go at the stairs to the stage. Every now and then she'd stop to dance with the older girls.

Meanwhile, Riley was fitting in just fine with a group of four-year-old girls. She was best friends with a girl named Sarah. They were holding hands and running around the auditorium. Riley even convinced Sarah to let her try on her black, patent leather shoes. Riley kept telling her how cute her shoes were and Sarah just sat down, took one off and handed it over to Riley. Riley tried them on, expressed her wish that she had a pair just like them and then took the shoe off and gave it back to Sarah. Once they were both shod the way they came, they grabbed hands and took off for another lap around the auditorium.

Oh, yeah, I guess the band was pretty good too. Although they were not as quick with the music as the girls would have liked. The band leader was a fair to midlands MC, but due to the fact that the average age of the band was comfortably settled around 65, he felt compelled to mention that this member had died or that one was about to die. Their singer, a older black gentleman who styled himself after Frank Sinatra, was very charming and wonderful.

The only downer of the night was running into an old flame who didn't seem to know who I was. His little girl and Riley were fast becoming friends, though. He didn't seem to be very happy, and I've since found out that he had recently been in a motorcycle accident and before then a divorce. So, I guess I don't begrudge him a case of the grumps. I just usually feel so delighted to run into people from my past; it's such a novelty after living so far from home. It kind of feels like I'm an actor and I've run into an old cast mate. "Wasn't it funny how tragic we were in that play where the chipper, optimistic young girl falls for the serious, studious, loner?" I'd say, and we'd laugh over a cup of coffee. But, it seems to me that most people don't put that kind of emotional distance between themselves and people who, in their minds, are tied to uncomfortable or tragic events.

Oh, well. La La La. I had a great time and I hope he had some fun too. Anyway, all Riley can do now is ask, "Is it time to go to the concert again?"