Lyle Lovett- still in my top five, ten years later!

So, anybody close to my age has seen the Friend's episode with the "Top 5." If you lived under a rock in the late 1990s, I'll summarize: Our friends at Central Perk each make a list of their "Top 5," a list of celebrities they could sleep with guilt free should the occasion arise; a sort of get-out-of-trouble-free card. I think this episode came out my junior year of college. Seeing that this was Cedar City, Utah (where there is really nothing much to do besides watch Friends on a Thursday night), and pretty much none of us (OK, except Mary), were actually in a relationship, we did what only made sense at the time: we each made our own Top 5 list. This was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I included Lyle Lovett in my Top 5. Nobody could get it (except perhaps Julia Roberts), and I was the subject of relentless teasing. But I stood by my choice then, and I stand by it now.

Last night Nick and I went to the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville, Washington for the Lyle Lovett concert. I am a huge fan (clearly) and I feel that I would be doing my readers (even the world) a disservice should I not just take a moment to stump for the wonderful Lyle Lovett. I am not really a fan of country music. However, Lyle is not really a "country" musician. I would say that primarily he is a song writer - and he writes beautiful songs. He is a master with weaving in small, intimate deatils and painting a vivid picture of whatever he may be singing about. He does this in his folk songs, gospel songs, jazz songs, and yes, even his country songs. And Lyle seems to have a sort of love affair with the Northwest. He comes at least once a year, and Nick and I go see him every couple of years (this was number 4). He was there with (part of) his Large Band (It's not Big, It's Large), although unfortunately Francine, my favorite member of his Large Band, was not present.

We had a really good time. Besides Lyle, this may have had something to do with the fact that it was our first outing since the bar exam, so really, our first stress-free outing probably since we went to Italy in March. It may also have something to do with the fact that the weather was incredible- a little cloudy, but no rain and about 70 degrees and the sun didn't set until after 9 pm. It also probably had something to do with the venue- Chateau Ste. Michelle was by far the best venue I have ever been to for a concert. Our general admission seats were awesome, and there's nothing more intimate than enjoying a concert on a blanket, with some low-backed chairs, a Costco chicken, some Dubliner cheese, and wine from the winery 20 feet away (none for me). I could probably see anybody at that venue and still enjoy it, but the fact that it was Lyle made it so much better. And just so I don't break my streak of talking about the baby on every post, I will add that he gave his 2 thumbs up as well. He danced away almost the whole concert and was clearly overjoyed at the experience, judging by the state of my ribs.

So, hopefully I have completed my mission, and inspired you to listen to at least one Lyle Lovett song. Might I suggest Sonia? It's the first LL song I ever heard (freshman year of college, introduced by my really-into-music friend Jimi), and still my favorite.