mt vernon concert in the park 6-6-07

June 7th, 2007

     It’s a real privilege to play tonight at the inaugural concert of the first year of Mt. Vernon’s annual Tulipalooza  Concert in what we hope will be the music festival that dwarfs the Tulip Festival in short order.
     The Band here loves Mt. Vernon.  Course half of em thought it was called the city of Hugo/Helmer.  I know Paul over there has single-handedly doubled the city’s sales tax on his guitar purchases.  And I can’t point too many fingers — this banjo I bought from the Hugo Helmer music store behind us in 1980.  The missuz at the time said, “You buy that banjo and I’ll leave you.”  I bet Hugo Helmer has destroyed more marriages in its nearly 70 years of doing business than Burlington has franchised fast foods.
     What I love about Mt. Vernon is this — all the old buildings along the waterfront and downtown are still here.  Most all of it is still intact, just waiting to get restored.  The Band feels the same way,  Naw, they don’t agree with me.  They’re waiting to be restored.
     Mt. Vernon used to be a River Town.  When they put the interstate smack thru the town, it turned College Way into the 2^nd busiest intersection in WA.  But the downtown stayed quaint, just biding its time til the 21^st Century discovered its charms.  You been doing good.  Fixed up the streets,    Built a very nice train station a few blocks from here, saved the Lincoln, started building parks, expanded the hospital and kept your soul doing it.
     That might not seem like much to some, but your kids and your grandkids are gonna thank you.  And half the Band thanks you NOW —- the other half want to thank the City of Hugo Helmer for supplying their instrument addictions…….

Entry Filed under: deer in the headlights (concert commentary)