The month of January was pretty laid-back for us…..
Because of the Omicron surge, the only concert we had scheduled for January was cancelled. Jim and I mostly cooled our heels at home. We did some yard work and we worked on our taxes.
One thing we DID do, was visit some iconic So Cal tourist spots. We had some friends from Texas come and visit us for a couple of days so we did a lot of tourist-y things with them. One of the places we went to was the Santa Monica pier, a nice place to see the Pacific Ocean and the sunset. Santa Monica is at the end of route 66 – there is a marker there so we dutifully took our photos and continued on.
Santa Monica – End of Route 66
Today I’m looking at the picture and I notice something is missing. I looked at the picture of each side of the sign…..is this only the end? Shouldn’t it also be the beginning? The entire route goes all the way from Chicago to California – and it ALSO goes all the way back to Chicago. I think one side of the sign should say “end of the trail” and the other side should say “beginning of the trail…”
It’s very possible that struggle to get back to normal is starting to get to me. It feels like I’m looking at all the signs that say our professional road is at the end, yet I am waiting and hoping that there will be a new beginning here somewhere. A smarter person might have already started something new instead of waiting….jobs are plentiful so I hear, but I’m not ready to say, “Do you want fries with that?” I don’t mean to be depressing, I just want to be smart. If this is the end of the road, I want to find the beginning of the new road instead of languishing at the end of the old one. Languishing does not pay the bills!
Hopefully, the new road leads to more singing, more concerts and less Covid! We begin mid-February in Texas, then on to Florida. Once we get started again I know my spirits will rise, after all, this is just the beginning!
People STILL ask if Jim had ever met John Denver…..it is one of our most frequently asked questions – so please forgive me for repeating an old story that has been repeated before. I originally wrote this story in 2012, but I updated it and posted it here so I can tell people to read it in the blog when they ask.
Jim and Anne Curry, 1978 – This is the oldest photo I have of us on my computer. I know there’s another photo from when we dated in 1974, but it’s buried somewhere I can’t find it….I’ll keep looking.
As long as I’ve known Jim (almost 50 years now) I’ve known that the one person in the world he most wanted to meet was John Denver. It’s a common question we get at every one of our concerts, and we’ve met so many people and heard so many stories of how they met John and how nice he was to them. Jim has never met John, but not for the lack of trying.
The summer after Jim graduated from high school, he bought tickets to see a John Denver concert near his home in Houston, TX. Somehow he obtained a precious backstage pass….this was his chance to meet John! Jim went to the concert with a girlfriend and two other friends from high school. Being a gentleman, Jim handed the pass to his girlfriend and said, “We’ll take turns, you go first.”
But she didn’t return to share the backstage pass.
Jim and his two other friends found themselves waiting for her in the parking lot after the concert. They were an hour away from home, and they didn’t know if they should leave her there, and how they were going to explain to this girl’s parents how they lost her in Houston. After about a half hour, she finally returned to where they were waiting in the parking lot. She was overjoyed and full of stories about how she met John Denver and the entire band, and how nice everyone was, and what a wonderful time she had…..
Not too long after that Jim moved to California to resume a relationship with me (we had dated earlier, before Jim’s family moved to Texas). The rest is history, MY history. I kind of think it’s possible that if this girl had not been selfish, Jim might have been able to realize his dream to meet John Denver. But then again, he might have stayed with that girl in Texas instead of moving back to California.
"It was an amazing evening. We have had many different performers at our conferences; The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Three Dog Night, America. Jim Curry ranks among these acts. I would book Jim and his band again in a heartbeat."
Daniel Young Corporate Function, Keystone, CO
"I have to tell you I don't know when we've enjoyed a show as much as we enjoyed yours. It just swept us away and we did not want it to end! You are all so gifted. And the music of John Denver speaks for itself. It touches the heart."
