Halfway through the Heart concert Thursday night, I glanced over at Tara and saw tears glistening in her eyes.
“Why are you crying, babe?” I asked.
“Collective effervescence,” she said, as if I had any clue what that meant.
I just shrugged, ’cause Ann and Nancy Wilson were rippin’ through “Crazy On You” like they were 50 years younger. It was inspiring and phenomenal, which pretty much sums up the whole show.
Collective effervescence–a term I had never heard before–is a sociological concept describing the intense, shared emotional experience and feeling of unity that emerges when a group of people comes together for a common purpose or event. Concerts and music festivals are prime examples, as are sporting events, protests, and rallies.
Earlier, during Cheap Trick’s set, I’d had my own moment of collective effervescence, I suppose. No tears, but I was air-drumming the hell out of “Surrender.” A total concert bucket list moment.
I worked half a day Thursday before clocking out. We left home early afternoon and arrived in Green Bay two hours and eight minutes later. Not bad at all, and the whole drive up was one continuous snowy landscape of barns and tractors. The sun was just setting when we arrived, and the sky was putting on one helluva show.
We really splurged on the hotel. Honestly, it was one of the nicest ones I’ve ever stayed in, which may be due to the fact that I’m normally more of a Super 8 guy. But Tara wasn’t thrilled with the rooms I booked for us in Bayfield or Sheboygan earlier this year, so I wanted to impress her. Mainly, I wanted a hotel that was within walking distance of the Resch Center so we wouldn’t have to bother with parking, which is always a hassle at concerts. The Legacy Hotel was right across from both the arena and Lambeau Field, so it couldn’t have been more convenient.
It was swanky AF, and our room’s floor to ceiling windows offered a pretty common view of Green Bay in December.
I don’t want to geek out too much over the TV that rose out of the cabinet at the foot of the bed with the touch of a button, because we never actually turned it on, but guys: there was a TV that rose out of the cabinet at the foot of the bed with the touch of a button. I kinda had a Jed Clampett moment there.
We had a couple of hours to kill before the show started at 7 p.m., so we walked over to the Stadium View Sports Bar right across the parking lot. If there’s one thing Team MarTar knows how to do, it’s killing time in a pub.
Pretty much the whole crowd was there for the concert, so we all kind of wandered over en masse (hey, more collective effervescence!) at 6:30 p.m. And even though the arena was just across the street, it was brutally cold out. I checked my phone and the temperature was 1°. Which, okay, I knew Green Bay this time of year wouldn’t be warm, but I wasn’t expecting that kind of cold. Any warmth the alcohol provided our bodies dissipated quickly during the 5-minute walk to the arena.
Luckily, both bands were incredible. It was well worth the drive and the cold and the expensive hotel room. Here’s Heart’s setlist, for posterity. Ignore the annoying ad unless you’re planning a trip to Puerto Rico soon.
With most concerts, there’s typically a song or two you wish the band had played during their set. This was not the case with Heart; they covered all the essentials. The three Led Zeppelin covers were a bonus. The Joni Mitchell Christmas song was a bonus bonus. For waffling so long on even buying tickets–we were originally supposed to see them in Milwaukee in August, 2024, but the show was postponed due to Ann Wilson’s health–I am so, so glad we went. 10/10 would recommend Heart.
Cheap Trick were no slouches either.
That’s 15″ if you’re counting.
Friday morning, we checked out of our luxurious accommodations for breakfast downtown at The Creamery. The food was delicious and the portions monstrous; I barely made it 1/3 of the way through my Wisco Hash, and I even had trouble finishing the Bloody Mary. That never happens.
We stopped in Oshkosh on the way home to hit up their antique mall. Even though we just bought a bunch of stuff at Atomic Antiques in Madison a few weeks ago, we found plenty of goodies to fill our cart.
Two-and-a-half hours later, we finally pulled out of the parking lot for the final leg home. Relaxing in my recliner, with a cat on my lap and Clark Griswold telling everyone what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit his boss is, felt like bliss.
So, it’s been a really nice 3.5-day weekend. Most enjoyable. Saturday we hit up our town’s Holiday Market, which is blessedly indoors over six different venues. We went to four of them and made our contributions to the local economy.
And then, this morning, we woke up to yet more snow. Another 4″ on top of last weekend’s big storm and a little more during the week. That makes 15″ of snow in seven days, which almost equals our entire total last winter. This winter is shaping up to be a doozy and it’s still technically fall.
The cold is expected to stick around at least the next 10 days, with a slight warmup on Tuesday that might bring a little rain. That on top of the frozen roads would be a nightmare, especially since it’s supposed to drop below zero a day or two later, so we’ll be keeping an eye on the forecast and hoping for the best.
Our odds of a white Christmas are looking promising though!
Oh, one more thing. Last weekend, I went to fire up the snow blower, and it wouldn’t start despite my many attempts. I’m hoping I just flooded the engine like a dumbass, because shoveling our driveway is a real pain in the ass.
Ilsa Rey reminded me that I have a heated driveway. ‘Tis true, but honestly, Dick half-assed the whole thing. Literally.
He only had two heating coils installed, to line up with the vehicle’s tires, and only at the top half of the driveway. I mean, it’s better than nothing, but doesn’t do Tara (who parks in the detached garage) any good, and we still have to shovel. This is why we’ve barely used it.
Neighbor Brian stopped by this morning for a chat while I was doing just that and said Dick regretted adding it because, if you’re going to go to all that trouble and expense, you ought to be able to heat the entire driveway. Which I understand would be prohibitively expensive, of course. Especially for a guy who chose a walk-in closet over an en suite bathroom.
Oh, well. Spring will be here in four short months!
Mark My Words 
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