Loverboy at the taste of Syracuse.

Saturday started off slow. It rained most of the day, and I was beginning to think it was going to be one of those days where no one wants to get off the couch and most definitely my girlfriends were not going to be in the mood to see the Loverboy concert at the Taste of Syracuse in Downtown Syracuse. I had been anticipating the event for a least a month prior and was so psyched to go and see them....and at a steal of a deal...FREE! Taste of Syracuse is an annual event in which local restaurants offer a taste of their food for a few bucks. I had been once before on a Friday afternoon with my youngest, stayed just long enough to play in the children's play area, listen to a few people sing, and enter a contest; (which we won by the way) before he had enough and wanted to go home. The contest we won were admission tickets to Watkins Glen Raceway. (I will post this event in one of my flash back Fridays. ).

The rain poured on most of the day, I did my bi-weekly grocery shopping, and called around for some finalization of who is going and who is not. Count was five of us, but only four of us met up at my house for pre-Loverboy cocktails and the fun began.

Tami, Me, Renee and my neighbor Jenny. We gave our chauffeur time to watch his last horse racing bet of the day (My husband, and he won too) by having drinks and eating snacks. He was a great support of the Loverboy cause and dropped us off downtown. We got there and despite the rain earlier in the day the clouds had passed and it seemed everyone had made their way to the streets of Down town Syracuse, it was mobbed. That did not stop our crazy and a bit intoxicated asses from having a good time. We filled our bag of kitty (Red Cat in a pouch), did a bathroom break...there was no TP and made our way to the stage featuring Loverboy. With the persistence of Jenny we made our way up to the near front of the already formed crowd near the stage and staked our Loverboy space.

When Mike Reno and the band came out, I went WILD! There is a story behind the Loverboy band and why this particular 80's group was more desired for me then perhaps many of the others. Growing up I had one friend who was the extension of myself.  My girlfriend Lynne and I did EVERYTHING together. She lived right across the street from me; we played dolls together, had our pre-teen idols/crushes we were in love with. I was in love with Christopher Reeves (Superman), Parker Louis Stevens (Hardy Boys), and we both crushed on Larry Wilcox (Chips). We pretended to be singers for hours in my basement riding in our somehow attached RV's and toured across the country singing music by Sister Sledge and Gloria Gainer. We build extravagant Barbie doll houses and had big doll families often our children were the doll's from Welcome Back Carter, Dad might have resembled Donny Osmand and I am sure we both have a visiting Aunt who looked very much like Farrah Faucit.  She got me into hockey in middle school, and we both played on one of the only girls team in the area. The Valley team. Our favorite professional team was the NY Rangers and I would have died for a chance to breathe the same air as my personal favorite Robert McClanahan, #9 Wingman, and a former player of the 1980's Olympic winning USA team. She was in love with Ron Dugay, the pretty boy wing man who wore no helmet and let his long brown locks hang becoming his team signature.  (Ron was much more the superstar then Rob, and most times I found I was longing for the behind the scene men. My guy never had a poster) Here are pictures of them back in the day.  

Rob McClanahan

Ron Dugay

We were so in love and our lives revolved around hockey, pretending our pro-husbands, Ron and Rob were busy on the road as we took care of our singing careers and minded our several children. She and I are still mocked by our friends that we played with dolls well into our late adolescences. Then MTV came out and changed our love for our hockey buffs. Suddenly we were fascinated with the music. At the time MTV actually played video's and it was only on a few hours a day. We watched with hope that our two favorite bands would make an appearance during those few hours and a new CRUSH was born. I fell head over heels for drummer Stewart Copeland of the Police and she Mike Reno of Loverboy. So the relevance to this post has finally been identified.

Like most young girls, we found every article, every poster, every album (yes vinyl), every promo and filled ourselves up with anything these pop stars produced. It may have been a little obsessive, but fun just the same.  

 Her is a picture of The Police; Stewart Copeland, Andy Sommers, and "Sting".

Loverboy; Paul, Matt, Mike Reno, Scott and Doug. (All names from memory).

We went CRAZY for these bands and one of my first ever concerts was to see Loverboy with Lynne at the NY State fair. We were so excited and had amazing seats on the first tier directly in the center. At the final song, we pulled out sparklers (we should have gotten arrested, and probably would if we did that today) lit those babies up and GOT NOTICED by the band! The guitarist Paul sent us two guitar picks. I wish I still knew where mine went. Anyways....when I head Loverboy was coming I had been counting down the days and just had to be there even if Lynne could not. She is in Florida and has been there for the last 20 years. I miss her terribly.

The concert was amazing, we worked our way towards the front and rocked it!

Here are just a few of the 100+ pictures I took! and they continue...

It was an amazing show and we all had so much fun. As the band ended, Jenny suggested that I hang by the stage because sometimes, body guards will give out picks etc. She was so right, just as I turned around the drummer was approaching the front of the stage. I yelled "Mattieu" (Canadian Mathew) and he picked me out to give his stick. I was stocked!!! I think I am going to send it to Lynne, she'll appreciate it more. We ended the night will a call to the chauffeur; my hubby a cool drink of water, and ready for bed! I really had such a great time and I am so glad I was able to spend it with such great people!!! Can't wait for the next 80's band to make an appearance somewhere soon!