Last week I was privileged to be invited to attend two very extreme musical events, both of which turned out to be epic evenings full of nostalgic music–the soundtrack of my youth (if my youth had creeped into the 70s, which it didn’t, but I’m taking some creative license here as usual.)

On Tuesday I had dinner with my sweet friend Janet, and we drove to the fairground in deep East Dallas to see the acclaimed Broadway musical Tina. Janet volunteers at the musicals and attends them all, perfectly perched in the front row of the balcony, right in the middle of the enormous State Fair Music Hall. As you might expect if you’re familiar with Tina Turner, we were blasted with a rock and roll repertoire, starting with the early 1960s Proud Mary, through the heart-breaking Private Dancer, to her triumphant comeback What’s Love Got to Do With It, and ending with a thundering version of Proud Mary that brought the house to its feet. There were even two additional songs after the curtain call that kept everyone standing.

We witnessed a life that was rife with abuse, betrayals, and discrimination from all sides, but also courage and strength and friendship and resiliency. Hers was a life that begs to be celebrated and admired.

We also admired the young woman who played Tina, which was a very physical role and required musical chops that had to hold up for two hours of near constant raspy singing. She was as fierce as Tina.

The show itself was loud and graphic and big, and we came away with our hair blown back and the tops of our heads blown off.

Friday evening was somewhat different. My friend Lee (you might remember her as “Delightful”) received tickets from her daughter Erin to see Herman’s Hermits in concert at the Arlington Music Hall. This surprising Christmas gift also came with a personal invitation from Peter Noone, the front man for the Hermits, in the form of a video message!

Back in 1964 (we think we were about 12) Herman’s Hermits made an appearance at KBOX radio station which oddly was perfectly perched on a hill in our neighborhood, basically across from my house. That day hundreds (tens, dozens, we don’t know how many–it was 60 years ago!) of us rode our bikes up the hill to catch a glimpse of them. Lee remembers seeing Peter in his limo. She apparently had told Erin about this auspicious occasion and Erin remembered it and gifted her mother with an amazing walk down musical memory lane.

Lee invited me to join her, no doubt because we spent a zillion hours (again, I don’t know how many) listening to his songs on the radio and singing along and dreaming of being married to him.

I drove to Ft. Worth so we could have a slumber party later and we Ubered like grownups to the venue. In contrast to the Music Hall, the Arlington Hall is the size of a high school auditorium and our seats were toward the front, in the middle.

When the music started we were immediately transported back in time listening to the sweet British accent we knew so well sing all our favorites from Silhouettes on the Shade, to Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter. He was the cutest 76-year-old ever, clowning around, in and out of the audience, tossing t-shirts into the balcony, and dancing like a teenager. And when he slowed it down to sing Listen People, there wasn’t an old dry eye in the house (and ALL the eyes were old.)

He finished up with a rousing version of I’m Henry VIII I Am, with all of us singing along, then after a standing ovation, joined the audience in the hall to sign autographs, while Lee and I Ubered back to her house, still humming in our heads.

Two completely different evenings, both of which I loved immensely, because I was with two women who are just so fun to be with, and because music is at the heart of so many of my memories. The opportunity to get to enjoy music of my past, no matter the genre, is such a gift for me. Thanks to Lee and Janet for sharing.

Judging by the crowds at these events, both of these artists have withstood the test of time in their own way. One through the power of music and one through the power of personality. I’ll let you decide which is which.