THE ANIME MASSACRE WITH ALMOST LIVE COMMENTARY, DIRECTIONS AND LAUGHS (WE HOPE)


Long about the beginning of April I wrote to say that I had tickets for Arlo and Family for the Admiral Theater in Bremerton. I had also booked a hotel room and gotten tickets for Sakura Con Anime Festival in Seattle and they happened at exactly the same time in the other place. So I was bummed, not just bummed but almost suicidal. Now I would never kill myself over something as insignificant as seeing an American Legend, Flower Child and all around Nice guy like Mr. Arlo Guthrie but I was very sad.

I was sad, I was bummed, I was.....really pissed because I was out $58 and this would be the third time I would have missed Mr. Arlo Guthrie at the Admiral Theater in Bremerton, WA. Being a working stiff, I did not realize that it had also been a very long time since Mr. Arlo Guthrie had come anywhere near Bremerton. That told me that he was, one, very smart and two, looked to remain healthy and live a long time because the only place more dangerous than Bremerton is Port Orchard, where I live.

So I was very bummed, sad, suicidal and pissed. Needless to say the appearance of scantily clad girls, dressed as anime characters, did next to nothing for my disposition. My daughter, standing there with 4 foot long blue hair and wearing a Japanese school girl costume from her favorite anime "Lucky Star" was pretty non-plussed by her dad's attitude. What could I do?

Suddenly the sky opened up and I figured out a way to make it all work. Well I didn't figure out a way to make it all work, somebody in Arlo's management circle/family contacted me to give me free tickets so I could take everyone to the show. This is where things started to go horribly wrong. My daughter became very ill, with a nasty cold and I dutifully followed behind her getting sick as well. We spent all day being sick after sleeping over in the world's smallest "suite" that I had ever had the misfortune to shell out $200 for an overnight. Tried to get in line for the free breakfast. Gave up on that headed out to find a place to eat and finding none, drove, with a heavy heart back to the land of giant swords, guns, knives and sometimes scantily clad girls dressed as their favorite anime character.

We had a short meeting and decided to go out on our own to go see what we wanted to see at "The Con" and I took a couple hundred pictures of scantily clad girls dressed as their favorit anime characters and the odd ugly guy, so my wife wouldn't think I was chasing scantily...well you know what I mean. So, we hung out and agreed to hit the road together at 05:30 so we could drive down the 5 and arrive alive at the show. One of our party had neglected to tell me that they were in desperate need of a serious autograph panel from the one Japanese Anime that does not have scantily clad females. So we got in line around 5 and the line formed but the actual autographing did not begin until 05:30, which is when we were going to dash for Bremerton.

We waited. I suddenly realized that the odds of actually making everyone happy, including myself were quickly dissipating. I told the girls to get their autographs and then we would proceed with all haste to the Admiral Theater in Bremerton.

We hit the Freeway a little after 6 but I being the experienced long distance commuter that I was, knew that we had an ice cube chance in hell of making it on time, if I drove pretty fast but not stupidly. At this point it should be noted that I am a recovering type "A" personality and being shoe horned into driving faster than necessary fed that beast inside me. Pretty soon I was jumping in and out lanes, going 80 plus and in general having a great time on the 5 trying to reach Arlo. I was grateful that the girls were tired so they slept through the worst of my driving and I really only got up to 80 once. Most of the time I was doing a respectable 77 mph, just like everybody else.

Now the the 5 in Washington has some pretty unique characteristics that are designed to test the recovering type "A" person but I was spared the worst. We got to the theater, parked the car, the extra tickets were waiting at the window (thanks again) and we made it to the show, sick, tired and anxious.

Then Arlo came out and he was sick, tired but not anxious. He proceeded to do his level best to provide all kind of entertainments to his legion of fans in Bremerton, many of whom are now pushing 80. It's strange to be in a theater full of people as a 56 year old man, with double hip implants and a thinning hair line and be the youngster in the crowd, except for my daughter Gabz and her buddy Erin but no Miss Lily because she is frail and couldn't make it at all. Mis Lily's seat became the informal coat rack for my row and I treated their coats as I would have treated mine but I didn't look in their pockets, I swear.

So the show started and Arlo had a cold but he was fine as wine the whole time and personally I just thought he was fishing for compliments, complaining about his "awful" singing voice. Don't forget I'm a recovering type "A" in the middle of a major slip. The "meds" I had with me started to function and I felt at ease, peaceful, serene and happier to be in a place than I had been in a long time. I can't say what those meds were because that's between me and my VA doctor but they work and that's what counts.

All in all it was a pretty special evening, even when Arlo buffaloed everyone in the room by playing the intro to "Alice's Restaurant" and then telling us there was no way he was playing that song until the 50th anniversary which is sooner than I thought but not soon enough. So I was a tiny bit completely disappointed, which is completely normal for a type "A" personality, who tend to have unrealistic expectations of Legendary Folk Singers doing the song that brings them to mind immediately. That's life. What I did hear, however, was a lot of fine, albeit croaky, singing and marveling at how talented everyone was and how well they played their instruments, which is sort of counter intuitive because if they had no talent and couldn't sing or play, I wouldn't have been there in the first place. All things considered, the two kids learned something about America, Arlo Guthrie and his daddy Woody Guthrie. They still hate history, well my daughter does anyway and I finally got to see and hear Mr. Arlo Guthrie sing his dad's songs, some of his songs and then offered "My Peace", which we all took him up on and was very glad that we had all come together that night for our little slice of croaky heaven.

Neat story. So sorry to hear Arlo had a cold. 56 isn't old to me. Not when you're almost 53.

So glad you got to use your tickets, you might have had a hectic time getting there but at least you did.
Was your daughter still dressed in her blue wig? that would have been cool. I once went to a parents evening at my sons collage dressed as a woodland elf, but that's a different matter