WELCOME BACK, JOHN.......

she says to him while leaning on her left leg in the parking lot "asphalt"!

Donna's review

This was a double whammy "do" for me. After much schedule rearranging and family consoling, I was able to manipulate my way into John's return concert AND meet some of my Shrine Chat friends face to face......Awesome experience for this little (well, maybe not so little) gal from the Delta.

I met Fannie, the Shrinestress, and her friends Spin (a Shriner) and Christine (awannabe Shriner) in Nashville. We rode together to Bristol full of anticipation and fantasies that we won't got into here! We were cutting it close, so after 90 second showers we headed to Paramount to look for WOG, Crusher, Spike, and Kathy47....Mostly for WOG, he had their tickets! I didn't have a ticket, the total optimistic, by God, I'll get in one way or another. No, seriously, WOG and assured me there are always cancellations (birthing or deathing would only seem acceptable to me), not to worry. We met up with WOG and his friend Carol as they left the soundcheck. WOG told me that if I couldn't get a ticket he had arranged with Tim The Soundman that for ten bucks I could sit with him in the soundbooth! Ain't WOG Grand?! When the box office opened, I was able to get a ticket, FRONT ROW LEFT!!! Daddy's Little Pumpkin was meant to be at this show! We went back to the hotel and met up with Crusher and Spike...We knew this was gonna be a night to be remembered. Meeting Shriners that I have become friends with chatting was just too cool. No shyness, no hesitation....we were all already friends, just had faces to match the spirits we had come to know and care about! I met Kathy47 and her husband Tom at the show....what a sweetie....You know what struck me most about meeting Shriners? We all have accents in person cuz of the various regions we come from!! Chatting is accent - less!!! So, needless to say there was lots of laughs about how we talk! Although being from the South, I know I don't have the accent they said I do!! They're the ones that talked funny!! I mean, Crusher pronounces toast like toost! We had lots of laughs, lots of hugs, lots of pictures, displayed our tattoos to each other, shared Doritos-slim jims-and oreos, swapped chat stories, caught up on our lives with each other (and due to some of our ages, that was alot of catching up!!), learned about each others sleeping habits (I tried not to snore in Fannie's ear, but alas, I have no control...she was sooo sweet about it, didn't hit me like my husband does), shared grits, biscuits, and gravy, and it just goes on and on. Here is where I'd like to say, God, y'all are Great! I'm proud to know ya!

Okay, okay, you wanna hear about the show.....

Heeeerrreee'sss Johnny! He's back! He's slim and trim! He's got gold inside of him!

Technical stuff (band members, songs performed, etc.) were aptly described by WOG, so won't be redundant....I loved John's stories between songs as everyone else does.. I have heard him intro Fish and Whistle with Opie and Andy and Mayberry stories before, but he had a new twist this time. He told us that while he was convalescing (?) he couldn't sing, so his friend, Billy Bob Thornton called him up and asked him to be in his movie. We knew that, though, didn't we? wink wink....anyway, he said that Andy Griffith plays his and Billy Bob's Dad in the movie, so that makes him Opie's Stepbrother!! Too funny! Another funny story he told was about the guitar he was playing. He went into detail about the fella that did work on his guitars and this particular one had John's name on the neck (like Elvis' does)...John put a picture of a broken heart at the top of the guitar and put a coon's dick at the head of the neck...He said with his name in the middle he guessed that put him somewhere between a broken heart and perpetual/permanent hard on! I didn't hear all of that story word for word because the obnoxious woman behind me was talking..saying, "coon tick, what's a coon tick?" over and over. I explained to her that he was saying coon dick and it's something you pick your teeth with!! I had to ask someone what the punchline was that he said because of this woman wearing a furry sweater, jeans, and heels (if you ever come to the shrine and read this, you'll know who you are, and I hope you learn how to behave! hahah)...

John did have to sing some songs in different keys due to the voice thing, but heck, I can relate to that! Songs I used to do in D I gotta do em in G now....so it didn't offend me one bit! Actually, I loved the way he sang Ain't Hurtin Nobody!!!! There were a few chord misses, but really only the trained ear would notice, he only grimaced once or twice, he's a pro, he moved on, and when he did it again, he smiled instead!!! He's cool! But, the best part to me was when he thanked us all and we were how he remembered us! He's cool!

Can't See John after the Show? HA! We're Shriners! Watch Us!

John's usual meeting/greeting after the show didn't happen. Things to be signed were sent backstage to him by staff. Fannie had something real special she wanted to give him and it absolutely broke our hearts that it didn't look like she was gonna be able to. I told her that if he wasn't coming out to us, we'd just go to him! I mean, he did have to leave the theatre, and we knew where the stage door was cuz we'd been lurking there that afternoon, so off we went! What happened between Fannie and John at the equipment van is her story, so I'm gonna let her tell it, and ohboy! what a great one it is...I'll share with you my humble moment in the presence of best songwriter God ever gave a pen and paper to! We were walking through the parking lot, Fannie, Crusher, Spike, and I with John, Fiona, and their friends talking. Crusher and Spikes conversation is their story, so I'll let them tell it! I started to say something, but someone else said something to John. When John had finished talking to them, he stopped, stepped right into my view, and asked me what was it I wanted to say......sigh...aaahh....so what? you might ask...It was the gesture of someone truly kind, amiable, and caring...He could have so easily just kept on going, but he knew I wanted to say something to him. simple gesture, simple man...and I simply wanted to ask him if he was going to play Memphis In May this year...He told me no, that they were too late in booking, that it had already been booked when they were getting this tour together, but that he'd try to get there (here!) soon....that was all...I didn't stutter, I didn't spit, I didn't wet my pants! That's what's cool about John Prine...He's our friend..I haven't known John personally in all these years, and it doesn't matter...He's been my friend through the memories he helped create with my kids and husband through his music. When I'm sittin and strain' through the back door screen, I've got lots of smiles when I'm thinking about times my kids and I shared Prine moments....and now I've got smiles when I'm thinking about my Shriner friends too....