Zen Music Moment - Lucking into Elton

Zen Music Moment

A couple years ago, the AIDS Quilt came to Tulsa for display. My good friend Larry and his wife were part of the committee to bring it and display at the Tulsa Convention Center. Larry’s wife, Claudia, had lost a brother to AIDS related illness.
AS the date drew near, Ashley and I volunteered to act as monitors in the huge display room. The quilts were mounted on walls and laid out in patterns across the floor. We monitors were dressed in all white, and our job was to simply police an area and watch out for the well being of the quilt.

Of course, a large percentage of the monitors were part of the gay community, as were many of the sponsors. Ashley got a kick out of the time when one of the male monitors told me that my dark, curly hair looked very nice against my white shirt. “Wanting to switch sides?” she had asked in a whisper as we strolled through the wandering crowd.

We were all a little excited and hopeful that we might get a little recognition from a celebrity scheduled to appear in concert just down the hall in the Convention Center concert hall. Elton John had brought his one-man show to Tulsa, appearing alone with only his piano. I had seen Elton before with his full band in tow and it was a spectacular concert.
Everyone knew Elton had made appearances for the Ryan White Foundation, and as a gay man himself had supported many of the AIDS related charities. Quietly, we were anticipating some good luck and the chance to meet Elton.

As the day and afternoon wore on, it became apparent that Elton would not make it to the display, but we still had some good luck as far as his concert. The show had been sold out for a long time. I was unable to get tickets. But, late that afternoon, the tour manager came to the display and told Larry’s daughter they had moved the stage and equipment freeing up quite a few seats on the floor. He offered those seats to the workers for only $50 per seat. WE reacted quickly! A chance to see Elton John in this sold out show and from the floor, no less.

As the display shut down, we made our way to the concert. We were seated some 25 rows away from the stage. A great place for seeing and hearing the show! I ran to the concession for Ash and while there ran into my nephew Brian. He had managed to get tickets in the nosebleed sections, back of the auditorium and had paid $150 dollars for his seat.

Needless to say, Elton and his piano were tremendous! “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer” and “Good bye Yellow Brick Road”… all his great hits one after the other.
Sure, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time, but I like to think it was something a little more too.

Good Karma. What goes around, comes around.