This was the first concert Auz ever put on for his four kids with Ambi –and outside of Inisfree.
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The Show:
Their kids were now in the first grade at the local school down the mountain from where their cabin was. It was their first Summer vacation from school, too, and their dad had something special planned…
After working with the dozen Inisfreeans stationed at their mountain cabin, all of them digging out and reinforcing the spot in their big backyard where their swimming pool would be, and making sure to let Ethan help by using his growing ability to move the earth with his will, he set up a stage made not from cut-down trees, but stacked earth and stone. Whenever the kids were away in school, he practiced with his band the new songs they would sing; it was as much an upcoming musical surprise for them as it was for their mother. After several weeks, they had everything worked out and memorized.
A barbecue cookout started on their cabin’s long porch and patio to kick off the season, Ambi in charge of the seasoning and final say. The flags and streamers of both the old U.S.A. and her own kingdom from another place & time were pinned to hang in the breeze. Refreshments in a dozen pitchers were placed at intervals across the top of the tablecloth-covered outdoor-island, countertop, and tables, all the plates and platters of barbecue and fixin’s steadily being added around them.
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Lovingly holding his wife close to him as she stood by one of the grills, his arm around the back of her waist, he kissed her lips and smiled, resting his forehead with hers for a few seconds, telling her how much he loved her, and that he hoped she enjoyed the second show his band was about to put on for her. It was for their kids and their invited classmates, too, but always mostly for his great love. Then he strode across the grass of their backyard, past the filled swimming pool being fed by their mountaintop stream, and stepped up on the stage they’d made, taking the mic off its stand and adjusting its cord, nodding to his band.
The drummer, banjo player, and guitarist started them off with a steady beat. Auz started nodding and rocking to it, then looked out at everyone gathering in front of the stage, and waved their four kids and all their friends to come and sit closer; front-row. All in fitted sun-dresses, their hair let down and slowly changing colors like all Inisfreeans’ do, the girls playing the instruments for him smoothly increased their volume, backing his vocals up perfectly.
Auz, having completed his city faraway, was now a full-time dad and singer, just like he’d always wanted to be since childhood. Today, he was singing Luke Bryan’s “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset, Repeat,” and looked the part; he had on a new pair of blue-jeans, a white tank-top showing off his tanned, toned, and tattooed arms, and a Willie Nelson-style red bandana keeping his long brown hair neatly out of his eyes and in place, making his outfit red, white, and blue. He had no cowboy boots, though; his strong feet, just as he liked to keep them, were bare.
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“Friday Night” by Eric Paslay kept setting the great mood for all the feasting and dancing that was to come. Some fashionably-late cars and trucks pulled up in their mountaintop driveway at this point, and the people getting out heard them jamming out, all of them starting to dance their ways up to the front porch and around to where everyone was out back. Their kids ran around to find their friends and sit with them, many of them trying to clap to the beat.
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Their friends and the other kids started pairing up and line-dancing as his band continued, now playing “Chicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band. One of the Inisfreeans led the way through the middle of that song with her cover of its violin solo. They jammed out in true chill rural style, hitting every note and adding some of their own flare.
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“You made me love country, baby, and I love you more and more every day,” he said into the mic for her and all to hear. Right then, they started the unmistakable notes for “Anything Goes” by Florida Georgia Line.
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LOCASH’s “I Love This Life” came with the heaviest country accent of all, and it was almost so much that it had Auz on the verge of cracking up at how he sounded singing with it. He reached out between verses to high-five all the kids in front of the stage.
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“Stop, Drop, & Roll” by Dan + Shay was next. Auz, being a natural baritone and bass, sang it an octave lower than the original. To balance it out and keep it close to the first, one of the Inisfreeans made it a duet with him. Clips of overhead footage of couples and families driving down country roads and in to drive-in theaters were projected onto a big white bedsheet tied tight between two of the tall trees right behind the stage, right above the heads of the band. They cut in a few shots and mapped routes from Auz’s own road-trips and mega-expeditions that had taken him out to and all throughout the many lands. At the end of this song, when the movie above him faded out, he, still on the mic, told his kids they’d be going on musical road-trips, too; their future Summers would be full of them.
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Picking up the tempo, he led everyone in a foot-stomping fusion of country and some of Ambi’s favorite rock’n’roll; Steve ‘n’ Seagulls’s rendition of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” got everyone tapping, clapping, and singing along. The double-spoons were brought out for this one, added to the harmonizing of all the other instruments.
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Another fun one by that band, they had to play; their take on “You Shook Me All Night Long”. As with the other covers, the music video of the original played on the bedsheet overhead. Auz and his band had it set to play so that it was perfectly sync’ed up with them.
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“Wagon Wheel” by Darius Rucker brought the violin back to the forefront, and Auz continued singing from his heart.
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Chase Bryant’s “Little Bit of You” got everyone fired up and smiling big as they danced all around their backyard, and by now… the Inisfreeans were lighting the Tiki torches at its borders sloping down into the mountain forests, the long strings of white Christmas lights turning on several feet over all their heads and tables.
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“Long Hot Summer” by Keith Urban had the perfect lyrics for their mountaintop sunset that was now underway, making their whole backyard barbecue concert that much more magical.
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For “Shotgun Rider” by Tim McGraw, he brought his wife up on stage, a second barstool already in position next to his for her, and he looked right into her eyes as he sang to her in front of everyone. When there was a brief pause in the vocals, he leaned in to give her a quick kiss, and everyone whistled, then leaning in to kiss their own loved ones in the crowd.
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Their family was now getting concerts all their own, and he’d be continuing this new tradition of theirs for years and generations to come. What had started as something forced during his own childhood… had taken a break for years and years, building up in the back of his mind, …now finally coming back into the fold. Somehow, Ambi had made it all happen with that perfect timing of hers. What her husband thought was gone for good; his chances of a bright and music-filled life, …was actually still right here.
Ambi would always get the grand finale, as she was His grand finale; it was time for one song that wasn’t quite country, though it was a fitting classic and great way to end their night. Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” was the second song he sung just for and straight to her, its music video playing above both their barstools on the shared stage. He stood with her for that one, holding her hands in his, the mic back on its stand, close enough to his mouth for everyone to hear it all through the amps and speakers.
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Fireworks were launched up from behind the stage and bedsheet movie-screen when it was over, startling a few people, who then laughed at themselves, the people next to them who’d noticed their little jumps now elbowing them in fun. A lot of the women and girls in the audience were crying from how emotional it all was, their men hugging them. More than a few of the men had watery eyes, too.
Finally it was time for Auz to join them all and have a bite himself. Shaking hands, exchanging hugs, and sharing stories at the big picnic table, he made sure they all left full and happy. Their first Summer and family concert was a success, and everyone asked them to put on another one as soon as they could next year.
…And later that night, once everyone had gone back home and to bed, he sang it for her again, right as they were about to fall asleep, tangled up like they loved to, the music video then playing in his memory; so her mind would see and hear its music as he almost whispered it to her, his lips only an inch apart from her own. He held her so close as they dreamed together. He was the happiest man alive every morning they woke up together after nights like that.
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The RP:
ambrosia Today at 11:03 PM
Now again after this festival and concert series Ambi would be awestruck in every note sang by her loving husband and his wonderment of a band as she as well as all in attendance would be cheering as she leaves a long arm wrapped around his waist as she kissed him fully as he once again left the usually animated , word welding vampire speechless and as their children free and wild grew so did her love for them.
Each child thriving under their father’s teaching and the influence of people he introduced them to as Ambi in her own ways taught each child different aspects of their growing abilities as Nevaeh’s nature-loving would be utilized and as well as her siblings as she believed in hard work before playing ” Work hard, play hard ” the motto she instilled in each child
Her reasons for her timing of making her husband’s dreams of playing in a band again and singing was all done in good timing as she knew that even one busy as he was needed more than one way to release stress and that coupled with Servants personal ones would be utilized in everyway possible.
Tricolor hues now looked upon Auz at the end of the wonderful day would let him know everything she was thinking and feeling as she kissed him and now fell asleep against him as they always do ***
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OOC Thought:
[[“word welding”? word-WIELDING? No, no; I like it, I like it! Leave it! It works!]]
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