Old girls' night out

Yep, the Pajama Gardener was out of the house after dark 2 nights in a row. Last night, my friend Leslie and I went to go see Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend in concert. It was a great show (though they couldn't quite get the sound right for John Legend's set).

As we walked up to the theater, Leslie said, "I'm glad we're not the oldest people here." And sure nuff, we weren't. There were lots of gray and bald heads in there. And didn't the singers know it--they did a few flashbacks to Robert Flack, the O'Jays, Carole King and Led Zeppelin. We old girls danced and sang along and had a great old time...after we got some cough drops for the smoke during Legend's set. (Not that kind of smoke-it was dry ice-I only smelled that kind of smoke once, as if someone near me took a quick toke.)

I was feeling pretty good, being up and out after dark and all, until Rae said, with no irony at all, that she was 28 and had been playing in bands for a long time, since she was 16, and it looked like things were finally happening for her. I guess in a Beyonce world, you get worried if you haven't made it by the time you're staring at 30. Thank God publishing isn't like that (yet). Speaking of the rest of the pop scene, it was a pleasure to listen to a singer-songwriter, a young woman who is indeed making it without shedding her clothes or wiggling her ass.

Then John Legend came on, looking all of 7 years old, and everyone pulled out their cells to take pictures. I looked at the sea of blue screens in front of me and remembered when people held lighters and joints up in the air, not cell phones. And I began to feel my age again. But then Legend and his band got us dancing and singing and, yes, screaming like teens. Much fun.

Tonight I go to my critique group. Tomorrow, I collapse.