last Tuesday night we had some beautifully violent storms, but we missed them because Doug and I went with Tony and Matt to see Merle Haggard at this cute little auditorium in Arnold.

about 30 seconds after the opening act came on to play their set, the roof started leaking right on the corner of the stage. the crowd spent more time laughing at the antics of the auditorium employees trying to figure out what to do about the waterfall then actually watching the performers. after switching out 3 different trash cans , they got it settled and the show went on.

after the intermission, the host came on stage and announced that there was going to be a delay while they got the stage mopped up...yah. not a problem. good damn idea. no one wants to be the company that can claim they electrocuted one of country music's biggest icons.

meanwhile...a couple leaks sprang from the ceiling over the crowd. for the most part, people were good natured about the whole situation...for the first hour of waiting. then the crowd started getting a tad bit restless watching the staffers run around like monkeys on stage applying trash cans, ...oh, wait, lets try a different trash can. maybe THIS ONE will make the difference. dudes...they are trash cans. ones pretty much the same as another.

and then there came the annoucer again...yes, the show will go one as soon as we get the mess figured out...BUT. in the meantime...the creek flashflooded into the lower parking lot, so anyone who parked there might want to go move their cars...ya know. while you're waiting and all. (I started laughing my ass off at this point!)

and no, we weren't parked in that lot, but yes, we absolutely HAD to go gawk. and sure as shit there was 2 to 3 feet of water. at that point I looked at Doug and said "eh...I think this show is getting cancelled."

a half hour later, having looked our fill of the the flood waters, we returned to our seats to discover the crew packing the hell up and a very NERVOUS announcer peaking around the corner of the curtains out at the crowd.

it took that poor man another 10 minutes to get up the nerve to walk out and tell everyone the concert was being rescheduled for early October.

I know this all sounds like a big mess, but I actually had a really good time. I mean, I wouldn't have wished it to happen, but it was quite comical. the only downer was the ignorant people who GOT MAD. hello? mother nature? she does what she wants, and guess what? you get to just deal with it.

best part of the whole thing? how many people can lay claim to being rained out at an INDOOR concert?