Can We Talk 2

Kris' Concert

         Wow! Kris Kristofferson! In concert! Here in my hometown, in The Paramount Theater where I went to midnight horror movies in the summer with the neighborhood boys and my brothers. The ornate wallpaper, ceiling, and gilded baroque molding brings back so many memories. His music brings back so many memories, so many feelings.

         He played acoustic guitar with an amplifier and sang his own songs. No back up band, no back up singers. When he flubbed, there was no hiding it. He has an old man's voice, not the melodic smoothness of his younger days. But the audience loved it. It was HIS voice, his songs. We overlooked the abrupt endings, his getting lost in one song, and some errors because of who he is and who he has been. His harmonicas and guitar playing are still pretty good.

         What we listened to was a poet singing his poems, making his statements, telling his stories. Some of the songs were an old man's reveries looking back over his life, his loves, his dreams. He told a few stories or made casual remarks that came from his heart and were sincere. Quite a few of the more familiar ones were made famous by other singers, but he wrote them. He has a sense of humor, too. For the love ballads, I closed my eyes and mouthed the words (I used to sing them when I still played guitar.)

         I have never seen him in concert before, so I can't really say how he's changed. I've listened to his recordings or have seen him in movies, like A Star Is Born, and I know he doesn't sound the same as in those recordings. This may well be his last tour. He's getting feeble, moves slowly, plays slowly, and his memory isn't that sharp.

         If you have the chance to catch a concert, you should. It made me want to write some poems and tell some stories. I wanted to catch those feelings and give them words. It might inspire someone else, too.