Category Archives: aging

Many bloggers like to wear tiaras and be “queen for the day.” Not me. I went to see Queen for a night.

Okay, technically, it was not Queen. After all, the amazing Freddie Mercury has been gone from this plane 20 years November.

But did you know his flashy spirit dips in and sings out of Gary Mullen?

Here’s Don’t Stop Me Now:

Sounds pretty close to Freddie, eh?

Seeing this show was one big, freaky flashback. First, I was catapulted back in time. My dad took me, for goodness sake. And he was the one who first took me and older brother to rock concerts back in the late 70′s, early 80′s.

We didn’t quite appreciate it then.

Daddy, what’s that smell? It stinks in here. Daddy, Van Halen is really loud. My ears hurt. Can we go now?

But eventually we got into it and as a tweener, I developed a crush on Jackson Browne after seeing him live with my dad. Pre-teen angst?

Then, there’s the venue where we saw Gary Mullen, the Mount Baker Theater. Seeing a rock band in a nice theater is slightly off-putting.

The air is so clear in here, Dad. And hm, come to think of it, I’m completely sober.

Then there was “Freddie.” Gary has it down, the struts, the swagger, the Hey-HEHs! He sang us a beautiful Somebody to Love.

Just to hear those songs played live again was a thrill (I saw Queen in high school, as any good fan club member would, and then wrote to my Queen fan club pen pals, telling them about it all!).

And the crowd, well, the crowd was a quirky mix of kids with parents *ahem* and those who, how shall I say, seemed to have lived a slightly “rougher” and perhaps blurrier life than I. But were still around to request songs.

One guy in back kept shouting, “BICYCLE!!”

No, they never did.

But somewhere in the middle of the second half of the show, I felt this creepy, time-warp thing, like in movies when the actor’s face stays in the center of the screen but the camera has been pulling back and zooming in simultaneously to give a wharp-y, dizzying effect.

That was me. Zooming from pre-teen, thru high school, blurry years of college and grad school, even blurrier single life, and somehow, through the magic of a normal timeline, now my tiny baby is 7, my dad is in his 70′s, and I’m in my 40′s with a different kind of biological clock ticking. Or perhaps it’s a bell, you know, tolling.

But at least we’re spending our remaining time wisely.

We were at a freakin’ Queen concert!

I don’t know how, but doesn’t it seem like life’s clock picks up speed somewhere along the line?

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