Can you take me High Enough

I love Styx and had the biggest crush, or obsession depending on your point of view, on Tommy Shaw when I was 14. Really, that soulful expression, those dreamy blue eyes, feathered blond hair and skin suits. Hey! It was the 80's people and kept my newly hormonal fantasies churning. I remember trading one of my prized David Bowie albums for Cornerstone when I was 15. Boat on the River? One of the best songs ever. Which I listened to over and over while gazing at the posters of Tommy I had pinned up all over my bedroom walls that year. Even now if Renegade come on the radio or is the next song on the CD, I make everyone in the car shut up and I crank the volume. Priorities.

We are off to see Styx next month at the GARDEN STATE Arts Center with Boston opening for them. How weird is that lineup? SuperHubby gave me tickets for my birthday. This will be fun!

Despite my adolescent love and deep seated desire for all things Tommy Shaw and Styx when I was a teenager, I was never able to see them in concert back when they were out touring some awesome new album. Last August, they happened to be on a tour with Foreigner and Def Leppard. We got some tickets and off we went with the kids. Oh it was awesome to hear those songs live but the sound stage was meant for Def Leppard, who was the headliner, so the music was okay but left me feeling eh. I wanted to more Styx.

The very next, SuperHubby and Ace headed out to Pittsburgh on a birthday baseball trip to see the Mets play. Turns out there is something called SkyBlast in Pittsburgh every year with fireworks and concerts. One of those nights Styx was playing. SuperHubby and Ace were blown away with how great they were, how awesome the sound was, how rockin' the band was, and long they played. Which they told me about on the phone the next day while my innards twisted with envy and my teeth ground as I held myself back from yelling "ENOUGH ALREADY. They were great and I'M happy for you now shut up." This was purely because hey!, Big Styx fan left at home, didn't get to see the awesome rocking long concert.

My boys did redeem themselves however. When they came home they couldn't wait to show me the pictures they got of Tommy, JY, Chuck and the rest of the band as they came through the stadium vestibule out onto the stage and then back again after the show. And then they showed me the big surprise, which they had not shared on the phone, Ace was able to get the entire band to sign a baseball and a High Five from Tommy. Tommy Shaw high fiving my son's hand is almost, almost, as good as if he had touched mine. That degree of separation thing, flesh of my flesh, you know. So I didn't give them the silent treatment for getting to see such an awesome show without me and then raving about on the phone. Besides, Ace is a huge Styx fan now and listens to them all the time. It's good to pass down the legacy.

One of my Christmas presents from SuperHubby was tickets to see Styx at the BergenPAC center in January. That also more than made up for not getting to touch Tommy Shaw's hand and get to see them up close and personal as the boys did. And they do rock the house when it's set up for them and the songs I love so much are played so well. I still love Styx, though the obsession with Tommy has faded some and I have yet to cry out his name in the throes.

I did recently purchase a Damn Yankee CD to round out the Tommy Shaw music collection however.