Dreams do come true.....

Or maybe I should call this one "A 70 Year Old Groupie"

Two Christmases ago, my dear friends Steve and Teresa gave me an iPod which I immediately loaded with my favorite bossa nova and Brazilian music. After loading iTunes, I discovered a button that read "Radio" so I pushed it and found another link to Latin music and then finally to batanga.com. This is a Brazilian internet radio station coming out of Atlanta and this is where I first heard Djavan and his music. His style of music is jazz but with a strong Brazilian flavor. He plays and sings pagode, axe and the old bossa nova style tunes.

After hearing him many times on batanga.com I started to explore various websites to learn more about him and his beautiful music. I eventually ordered his double album from his 1999 tour and quickly learned to love all of the songs. He sings in Portuguese and I kind of mumble along but then I got the idea to download the lyrics, or letres, and began to learn the Portuguese words. My pronunciation is awful, but if I think I'm singing them right, then I'm singing them right. Who would know the difference anyway?

I had told my former lover, Marco, that if Djavan ever set foot in the US, I'd be there and he just laughed at me. Well, several weeks ago I was visiting Djavan's website and noticed that he was on the move again. He was appearing all over Brazil and now is headed for Paraguay, Uraguay, Chile and Argentina. Just out of curiosity I Googled 'Djavan Internation Tour Dates' and what popped up made my cry out loud "Oh My God". My workmate Nadine thought something awful had happened.

It said he was coming to Boston on June 8th and then to New York on June 10th. I wasn't too thrilled with Boston, but I'd go if it was the last resort. I called my friend BJ to see if she was interested in a road trip. But alas, she and her new hubby will be in St. Maartens and my niece Sandy will be at Lake Nacimento in California. Before I made any attempts to get a ticket I made one more attempt at web searching and found a link telling me he would start his tour on June 6th in Miami.

Now Miami seemed more my taste. I found he is opening at the Arsht Center For the Performing Arts (a bit like our Kennedy Center)and when I tried to get a ticket online I discovered that tickets didn't go on sale until late April. That's why he didn't appear through Ticketmaster. I patiently waited for April 26th and called the venue rather than a ticket agent. I was on hold at 10:00AM (second in the queue I might add)and was greeted by a sweet young man who agreed, when I told him I would be flying in from Washington, that I needed a good seat. I bravely asked him if there was anything available in the orchestra pit and he said "You want to be up close?" I sighed and said "Yes, of course". Anybody want to guess who is sitting front row, center, orchestra pit?? Yupper - it's me, the 70 year old groupie. I am so excited that I can't stand it.

I dug deeply into my Rio trip fund and allowed myself to remove enough for plane fare and a hotel for 2 nights. I fly into Miami on Thursday morning, the concert is on Friday and I leave Saturday to come back home. I chose a hotel in Downtown Miami that is only 2 blocks from the venue so I can walk and won't have to call a cab, only if it's raining of course.

This is the most exciting thing I've done since I got tickets to a Paul McCartney concert at RFK Stadium in 1993. I know I'll have a great time and it truly is a dream come true.

God bless you all.

XXOO