Elvis is alive and well!

   Elvis has made a comeback. We were invited by some long time friends, Bob & Maria to join them at an Elvis Impersonator show up in Paradise, CA. Although we had attended an Elvis Festival in Canada over a year ago and went dressed as Elvi (that's plural for Elvis) we decided to leave the outfits at home this time.
   I was lying in bed and couldn't sleep due to an aching back. I took a Motrin early on. Had a glass of wine and after an hour took a sleeping pill. Still couldn't sleep. I suppose something was nagging at me that needed to be taken care of. The tickets! I haven't gotten online and bought my tickets for the show! I jumped up, refilled my wine glass, and got online. The website was somewhat confusing to navigate. Once I found the show at the Paradise Performing Arts Center site and the seats that I wanted I scrolled down to where it said, "Buy Tickets". That was easy I thought, until the confirmation came up and I had bought 2 tickets for a cooking show not Elvis! I tried to undo my mistake but you can't. I then went to print my confirmation number out and the printer started cranking out page after page of written documents. Six pages in all! The final page read: Total $1759.00! I hit Defcon 3! No way! For some reason unknown it looked like I had bought season tickets for two to all the shows at the PPAC. I immediately got on the phone and called my credit card company to stop the transaction. They checked and told me I had only purchased 2 tickets for a cooking show and NOT the season tickets. "Can you cancel that?" I asked. "No, you'll have to call them in the morning," he told me. So I went back to the website and banged out an email that read, "Help, I want Elvis, not a cooking show. Please contact me asap." The next morning I called them at 11:10 when they opened. The lady said, "This is Nicki, can I help you?" "Yes, I bought 2 cooking show tickets by mistake"..."Oh, you must be Vincent," she said, "we're taking care of it; no problem, happens all the time.""You should have scrolled up instead of down to buy the Elvis tickets; we'll fix it."
   This is what drinking and buying can do. Never shop online after a glass of wine, a Motrin, and a sleeping pill. You could get hurt! What a lesson!
   We drove up to Chico, met with our friends at their friend's house (wonderful people), stopped for a fabulous Mexican dinner for the six of us, and of course, I had to share my story with them. Don't drink and shop became the moral of that story!
    This guy named Mike Albert with his 5 piece Big E band was phenomenal. I had to say to John & Mary who had seen Elvis live back a few decades, "I can't believe that Elvis put on as good a show as this impersonator".  He was personable, funny, great with the old timers and the kids, and really rocked the house. His moves were spot on and his voice when singing or talking was so much like the real deal I felt like I went back in time. John had to agree, he was that good!
   I never got to see Elvis live but I feel like I have now. What a great show that my friends, Bob & Maria had us drive up to Paradise for. I highly recommend Mike Albert and the Big E band! Here's a clip that I filmed at his performance. Don't tell!

   Bob & Maria stayed two more nights with their friends in Chico and then stopped by Elk Grove on their way home to Moraga. We got to show them our home and naturally fed them a Margermeata pizza that I baked out in the BBQ pizza oven out back. It was fun to see them again after 14 years, lots of reminiscing and a couple of Golden Retrievers later for the both of us.
   Old friends and pizza or new friends and pizza. It's always a win-win situation. Throw in a little Jailhouse Rock, Suspicious Minds, American Trilogy and you have an exciting evening for everybody! Thanks Bob! Next time we're wearing our Elvis outfits!