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My sister's birthday is October 7. HoJo was scheduled to perform the Boulton Center October 9 - just a few miles from us. HoJo is one of the ONLY performers from the 80s that my sister actually liked - a lot. Unfortunately, she had to work and couldn't get out of it. My boyfriend Heinrich and I debated going - we are both big fans, but I am an unemployed event manager/talent buyer and with my birthday just a month away, we didn't know if spending the money for Howard was a good idea.
Just days before the show, we were sitting in a restaurant and I had grabbed one of those local upcoming music mags, with Howard on the front page. We sighed, hummed and hawwed and checked the website for seat availability - 2 seats left - on opposite sides of the theater. I would have done it, but Heinrich was not interested. I reluctantly let it go.
The next day, I had an IM from Heinrich, asking if I was interested in going to a cheese seminar that Friday (Oct. 9). This is the point where everyone rolls their eyes, but the truth is, I have had a passionate love affair with cheese since I was 2 and coping as only a toddler can with the absence of my mother as she recovered from a horrific car accident, so I considered it a GRAND alternative to Howard Jones!
We opted for dinner at a Thai restaurant that just 'happened' to be just a few storefronts down from the Boulton Center. Heinrich describes the forlorn look on my face as I stopped in front of the Boulton Center en route to the restaurant. The seminar was supposed to start at 8, we were sitting waiting for food at 7:15 and Heinrich said he wanted to be on the road by 7:45. I laughed. He was pushing me along in the selection process, and then the eating process, saying he wanted to go. I was not concerned with missing the first few minutes of the cheese seminar, but he was fit to be tied! He kept pushing and pushing, making me more and more mad, eventually dropping my fork loudly to the plate, scooping up my purse and storming out of the restaurant.
I was so mad, I employed my event manager crowd surfing tactics to get away from Heinrich, and had all but stormed past the last door of the Boulton Center when Heinrich caught up to me and shoved me toward the theater, opening the door and pushing me through it. "Kristin, we're not going to a cheese seminar. You're going to see Howard Jones." Deer caught in the headlights doesn't come close to the expression on my face. I didn't believe him! The ticket lady scanned the piece of paper he had in his hands, and Heinrich continued to push me into the theater. I STILL didn't believe him!
We were escorted to the 7th row of the theater where we sat and Heinrich, with tears in his eyes, continued to enjoy the fruits of his deceptive labor, laughing as the truth finally began to sink in, the anger melt away, and the truth of what an amazing boyfriend I have registered.
Howard Jones did not disappoint either. HoJo and I parted ways after Cross that Line - I just wasn't caught by the music the way I had for so long. I was nervous that the new music he performed wouldn't engage me the way his old stuff did. I was so happy to find that emotional connection in his new music. Heinrich and I BOTH cried to Soon You'll Go - and I don't even have kids! I was also very pleasantly surprised to hear the electronica - go figure, that HoJo would play with the genre!!!
One of the top 5 nights of all time...
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