Yessss!

Well, I managed to pull it together and go to the show, which was phenomenal. She and her band put on an incredible show, during which the dulcimer took front and center stage on many tunes, including "All Through The Night", "Time After Time", "Above The Clouds" and "True Colors." Cyndi bopped, danced, rolled around on the stage, stood atop the grand piano, climbed speaker columns and sang like I've never heard her sing before - what an amazing voice she has! Her band was tight, and she seemed to keep them on their toes, changing up arrangements and guiding them through stops, starts and dynamics. Besides drums and bass guitar, there was a fiddle player and a guitarist (both of whom also played dulcimer at times) and a keyboardist/pianist. Opening act was Jill Sobule ("I Kissed A Girl"), who performed with only her guitar and captivated the audience. She joined Cyndi on-stage for a few songs, during which she proclaimed "Dulcimer is hot!" Cyndi also introduced the dulcimer to the crowd by saying "by the way, this is a dulcimer. I'm not supposed to talk much about that because people get confused. Are you confused?" She closed the show with "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", and as she said her final goodbyes and thank-yous, I ran outside to the truck, grabbed "Dee", the dulcimer that Willie Nelson and band signed a few years back, and then waited by the backstage exit along with some other die-hard fans for two and a half hours.

I'm happy to say that I had the chance to have Jill sign "Dee" (she strummed the strings as she signed) as well as Cyndi, who looked worn out at 1 am - and seemed torn between socializing and retreating to her tour bus, so she compromised and signed from within the bus, with her manager handing my dulcimer to her. Mission accomplished!



During the show, Cyndi passed out wristbands for the Matthew Shepard Foundation that were stamped with the words "Erase Hate." Showing her heart as a peace-loving person who believes we can still change the world we live in. If only more artists would use their music and their celebrity to convey such a beautiful message - we might get to that goal a whole lot quicker. It was a beautiful night - and a blessing to be able to attend the show.