Wednesday's Whine - Whew...I'm Tired!

You may have noticed that I didn't post a time waster on Tuesday. That's because I had NO time to waste on Tuesday. After racing to work 3 days in a row last week and then doing it again this week, I should be tired. I know Tucker is! However, in addition to all the driving and actually working more than a few hours a day, I attended a fun "political" event last night with a new friend and date, here in Denver that was hosted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and local GLBT organizations called Rock to Win (see pictures here). Here's the poster:

Margaret Cho (not listed on the poster) was a last minute addition to the line up at the Filmore Auditorium and handled some of the introductions as well as sharing some heartfelt commentary about HRC and the push for equality (particularly for gay marriage) by the GLBT community. Margaret totally included herself in these comments as being part of the GLBT community, if anyone has had any doubts about that. She also invited all of us out to California to get married as she's now a Deputy Marriage Commissioner (I think that's what she said her title is). Additionally, Babes Around Denver (BAD) had their very own DJ Trina J spinning tunes and MCing before, between and after sets and speeches.

Of the entertainers, Thelma Houston was up first and belted out a medley of R&B tunes along with a couple of her own songs. Then we got to watch on the BIG screen as Hillary Clinton made her awesome speech to the Democratic National Convention crowd. After that Rufus Wainwright came out to entertain us all with over 30 minutes of his musical talent. The guys in the crowd were quite excited to see him and of course the made it hard for us shorter ladies to see him, but I got a good angle on it all. Between sets there were HRC videos on the big screen as well.

Following some comments from the head of HRC, Joe Solmonese. Cyndi Lauper and her band came out to rock the house for over 45 minutes. I've never seen her in person, but she put on a great show and also implored us many times to get out the vote. She also had her son come out on stage for her last number (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun) to dance with the band. He did the typical tween ham stuff as he did some break dancing and was quite cute about it all.

Somewhere in the mix, before the final act, Joe Solmonese spoke again along with Colorado's own openly gay Congressional District 2 Democratic candidate Jarod Polis (I was a delegate for him) as well as the GLBT laison from the Obama campaign. This all led up to the tremendous 60 minute set from Melissa Etheridge. She totally brought the house up and down with a set list she described as "a little intense" since it was all of her more political and gay activist type songs. After the show I overheard one the guys telling another guy how awesome she was. Of course two of her songs are about gay men who have died (Mark Bingham on Flight 93 and Matthew Shepard from a beating). In both cases, when Melissa introduced the songs with her traditional commentary, she became quite emotional. In fact, at one point she stopped singing directly into her microphone. Though still singing, it was obvious she was choked up.

So, including dinner at Hamburger Mary's with my date and the HRC concert as well as driving to and fro, I was out for over 7 hours (and finally in bed after 1am only to be up again at 6am). Poor Tucker was stuck at home in the bathroom...I mean his bedroom...all evening watching Animal Planet. I'm so proud of him though, because he actually used the pee pad for it's intended use instead of shreading it to pieces! Good dog! I had a great time at the concert (and with my date too)!