ELO

I've dug Jeff Lynne and his bands since I was a teenager -- I always loved the harmonies and mixing of rock and classical music.  One of his songs, "Can't Get It Out of My Head," is a favorite of mine.

Lynne is, of course, even a more skilled producer, and has done records for everyone who is anyone. In the 90s he formed a "supergroup" with Petty, Dylan, Orbison, and Harrison, and I loved both of their albums.

ELO, Lynne's group, last toured in South Florida in '77, following the release of a huge record. But last night they were in town, and Wifey and I had tickets.

We fetched Deb, as her man Norman would be coming from Jupiter, where he had meetings. Norman remains the hardest working man in show biz -- the show biz of law. We had a lovely drive together -- Deb and I never knew we both lost our fathers when we were 20 and 21 -- and both of them died in 1982. We talked about having to grow up fast, but if we had to do it over again, we would NOT have had our beloved Dads die so young.

We met Norman at the hockey arena -- he's very familiar with it -- he's a Panthers season ticket holder. We went in and had some surprisingly good arena food -- turkey wraps for Wifey and me.

Our seats were good -- right next to the state. The opening act was Dhani Harrison, George's son, and Norman texted, correctly, that he had his MOTHER'S musical ability. I replied his music was self indulgent. But -- later in the show, Lynne called him to sing and play in a Wilburys song, "Handle Me With Care," and young Harrison redeemed himself there.

The musicians were superb. The light show was terrific -- though it would have been better if I had smoked some weed first.

Jeff Lynne, in his 70s, sort of just stands there and sings while strumming a guitar, but his band and orchestra were wonderful.

The only criticism was, as Norman and I agreed during this am's debriefing, is that the songs were played note for note -- zero improvisation, or story telling to go along with the music, other than a "Hello sunrise -- fantastic to be here."

They ended with a nice cover of "Roll Over Beethoven." And, alas, they did NOT play "Can't Get It Out of My Head." So Wifey sang it to me on the way home -- at least the chorus.

So we continued our project to see all the aging stars while we can. In the past few years we saw Streisand, McCartney, The Who, Hall and Oats, and have tickets for two more shows: The Stones, and Madonna.

That'll be it for awhile, I think, though last night was very entertaining.