The Lou Gramm Concert and How I Got to be There

The strangest set of events occurred last week which led to me being in a place I wouldn't have normally found myself. I'll try to explain the best I can and you tell me if this was just a bizarre set of coincidences. Two Wednesdays ago, I was dining with a friend. During this dinner, this friend handed me a copy of a local publication called Good Times Magazine. It's a magazine that features local artists and headline concerts coming to town.
I started flipping through the magazine and briefly scanned an article about Lou Gramm. I didn't recognize the name, but as I continued reading discovered that Lou Gramm had been the vocalist for the band Foreigner. Again, I was familiar with Foreigner, but couldn't quite remember their songs...that is until I continued reading the article. "Juke Box Hero," "Double Vision," "I Want to Know What Love is" and "Cold as Ice" were a few named in the piece and that I could say..."Yeah, I remember those songs."
Then on Sunday, my friend Jesse came by to pick up his puppy. We were sitting at the kitchen table where he informed me that his cousin had acquired tickets to Lou Gramm. I related to him that I had just read an article about that concert and then showed him the magazine. He then informed me that his cousin couldn't go to the concert and wanted to know if I wanted the tickets. Weird, huh? Since I had a kid free weekend, I said sure why not.
Susan and I went to the concert at the Horseshoe Arena in Midland. We listened to the opening band, Seventh Rize. They are a local band from Odessa and performed songs of the classic rock genre. I really stopped listening to classic rock before it came to be known as classic rock. I tend to keep current with music and not stay stuck in the past, but there are quite a few people who still enjoy that genre of music and believe me...all of them were present at this concert.
Finally, after Seventh Rize, Lou Gramm and band took the stage. Hearing the old classics did bring back some memories and it was a feel good moment. Susan and I walked out onto the floor and stood behind a pair of lively ladies. These ladies were hard core Foreigner fans. They played air guitar, sang the songs to one another, head banged (if that's possible) and really enjoyed themselves. I wish I could have video taped these ladies' performance because they were a sight to see!
I would have to say that the highlight of the evening was seeing Don Mancuso, the lead guitarist, play. For an older musician, he still rocked and rocked hard. Perfect playing, with such energy and fluid of motion...he was truly incredible up there on stage and commanded a presence that I truly admired.
Now here comes the really weird part. Saturday night I attended a show in Midland to hear a band called Outlash. Of course, if you read my blog, you'll know that this is the same band that performed the charity benefit for my friend, Erika. While in attendance, I found out that a journalist from Good Times Magazine was also in attendance...to write an article about Outlash! Isn't that crazy?!? We do live in a small world after all.