chuckography

"Your money's no good here...."

 No, really, it ISN'T.

I had driven to Atlanta to see John Fogerty in concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre and the next morning decided to re-visit Stone Mountain.

It was on my way home and I had not been there since the 1980s. It still looked the same.

My GPS directed me to turn onto Robert E. Lee Drive and look for the Stonewall Jackson intersection.

I remembered I had a "fake" CSA $100 bill tucked into a hidden compartment of my Tilley hat so I presented it and asked if they could make change.

"No, sorry, can't take it. Another car a few minutes ago also had one," said the nonplussed lady at the entry booth.

I paid for parking with a crisp USA ten dollar bill. There was no change.

Drove in, looking around for a Saturday parking space.

Nice crowd on a crisp late-October day. School groups were in abundance and many people pushing strollers.

Excited little kids wanted to ride the Ducks boats and take the aerial tram to the top of the urban mini-mountain.

As a teenager, my older brother and I had hiked - actually RAN - up the slope and my Dad caught up before we could venture too far and possibly tumble over the edge. Parents are like that.

Of course the carved image looked the same. Nothing had been chiseled on it since I was last there.

Well, a family amusement park had been developed and, if you build it, the people will come.

I had come the night before to see Fogerty perform and it was quite a show.

Being outdoors, we had planned ahead for a drop in temperature but it got down to a chilly 41 degrees.

Instead of sipping a cold beer, cups of hot coffee were in order.

The smart and temp-conscious vendor suggested perhaps a shot of Jack Daniels would help us weather the weather. It did indeed.

Sitting in the 4th row, we were shielded from any breeze and actually could feel some heat from the stage lighting.

That might have been wishful imagination though, because you could see Fogerty's small breath clouds in the cool air.

Some of the effects included flames shooting high in the air so you COULD enjoy a moment or two of heat.

And a second Jack-laced hot coffee helped.

Before - and after - his time leading Credence Clearwater Revival, Fogerty was a prolific songwriter.

We enjoyed a fantastic sing-along nostalgic tour of his many hits.

As a courtesy to the performers, I try to avoid singing aloud.

The band playing with John was tight and extremely talented.

Giant screens shared what we were seeing up close to the rest of the crowd.

Other pickers would join him at stage center to present a pounding rendition of a song.

He has always been a blasting, full volume kind of singer and I don't know how he has protected his voice all these years but he was in fine tune.

He came back for an extended encore and we enjoyed a 2+ hour show.

He was still full of energy as a torrent of multi-colored confetti was shot forward and cascaded down to close the show..

It was another great test of my Canon sx 260 HS.

The compact camera has a nice wide-angle lens setting to show the overall scene.

Then the sharp 20x optical zoom brings me right up on stage.

Where it was slightly warmer.

(Click on the pictures for more details.)

An hour later found that Walgreens has its own house brand of beer: Big Flats 1901 lager beer. A 6-pack for $2.99.

Funny comments online but it tasted pretty good.

While relaxing in a warm hotel room.

Labels: Alpharetta, CCR, Credence Clearwater Revival, CSA $100 bill, John Fogerty, Roswell, Stone Mountain Park, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Encore Park, Walgreens Big Flats 1901 lager

posted by chuckography @ 12:48 PM