A super fun night

Last night I took my whole family to see Dark Side of the Wall, a Pink Floyd Tribute band, at the Brown Theater. My son, Brian, plays rhythm guitar and is lead vocalist. It was an incredible show! Strobe lighting, background videos, excellent sound from a bunch of talented musicians and some rockin' music. Two and a half hours of incredible good time.
My 81 (you'd never believe she is 81) year old mom, Amy, Jim and I went to dinner at Mayan Cafe as soon as it opened so we could get to a pre-show party before the show, too. Dinner was fantastic! I hadn't been to Mayan Cafe in a long time. As I've said before, we are spoiled having many of the top restaurants in town within an easy walk for us so we rarely leave the neighborhood for dining. I had wonderful empanadas and a delicious carrot and ginger soup. We shared a bread pudding with Mexican chocolate sauce, tiny scoop of cinnamon ice cream topped with pomegranate seeds and blueberries. I'll be returning soon for a repeat.
We left there, parked at the Brown Hotel and went to Fourth Street Live, another venue I rarely go to so it was nice to see it to be a happenin' place. Maker's Mark was a sponsor of the show so they had an area set aside for anyone associated with the band. I met a small group of really nice folks, some who had come from out of town, like Amy, for the show. It was fun to see them again at the theater at intermission and after the show, too.
We walked the six blocks back to the theater to meet the rest of the group and pick up our tickets. Our entourage included, Mom, me, Jim, Amy, Eric and his wife, 3 of their children (one was sick and one too young), my children's aunt and uncle, two family friends of theirs and our good friends, Dave and Karen. I bought two boxes of ear plugs! It is a loud show, but I took mine out. I couldn't stand to miss a thing!
Brian met us outside and we did some picture taking. He chatted for a while then had to go backstage to finish preparations. Everyone got their tickets and we settled in, all seated within a few rows of one another. Amy had a blast sitting with the niece and nephews (13, 15, and 16). Mutual admiration abounded-they thought she was "cool" and she thought they were "cool" because they knew all of the music and loved Pink Floyd.
At the intermission I saw people I hadn't seen in 25 years! My mom thought it was fantastic and was so glad she came. She did leave after the first half- I gave her the option of me picking her up and taking her home because of the late hour or if she wanted to leave after the first half, she could meet us downtown, which is what she chose. Jim escorted her to her car at intermission, so she didn't get to chat with Bri afterwards. The first half included Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here and is my favorite because it is their earlier music and Brian does almost all of the vocals, so she saw a great show. The Wall is the 2nd half.
After the show, Brian came out to chat with us before putting his equipment away. It was so fun to see people come up to him and tell him how much they liked the show, how good he sounded, have their pictures taken with him, etc. He wears himself out on the stage- always moving. He even jumped so hard on one song that a technician had to run out on the stage to pick up his sound monitoring system and reattach it to his pants! The technicians must watch them every second, he was out there in a flash!.
Brian's been going through a rough patch and it was a real treat to see him enjoying himself, getting a lot of positive feedback and surrounded by friends and family.
It was a great night- I smile just thinking about it.
Brian Knopf-superstar.
Me- proud mom.
You can read the article the Louisville Courier Journal wrote promoting the concert here. And see a couple of photos.

You can hear their Live Lunch concert and interview on WFPK 91.9 in their Live Lunch archive, there is a link for the audio for Dark Side of the Wall as you scroll down.

I hope to post a small movie on my mobileme later.