Zoe’s a big fan of Ralph’s World and we had a great time at his show last summer at Cedar Cultural Center. For the uninitiated, Chicago rocker Ralph Covert plays music that both kids and parents can enjoy (or at least not be driven batty by). There’s also the sly humor parents can identify with in lines like “M-O-M-M-Y needs C-O-F-F-E-E….” and the sublime chant “Why are we marching? We are Ants!” 

So when we heard he was coming again, this time to Wayzata Middle School, we snapped up a couple of tickets ($15 each). Sunday afternoon, Zoe and I headed out, me clutching my Mapquest printout. I got lost (as I always do, being directionally challenged, but also because Mapquest is a conspiracy against womankind, but that’s a different story…) but we finally made it there, and on time.

The darkened auditorium was already a sea of swaying kids and their parents and grandparents, beach balls bopping overhead. The guy who was the opening act kept asking the audience to scream for “Ralph!” but when they obliged, he’d sing yet another song.

Finally, Ralph came on. It was exactly like the last concert. And maybe that was the problem. I don’t know, I expected a little more, new songs or something. Maybe Zoe was tired. She whispered “Mom, I’m so excited to see Ralph” before the show, but after a few minutes of jumping and dancing, curled up in my lap and started sucking her fingers, almost falling asleep. Maybe Ralph was tired. He’d played another show before ours, during which the power went out, causing all sorts of drama. Whatever the case, he bantered less than I remembered and while the music was good, it was not much different than listening to our CDs back home. Maybe I was tired, after getting lost on the road.

Or maybe I was already irritated by the guy who introduced Ralph, who told us that in the last year, Ralph had signed on with Disney and been a Grammy nominee and so weren’t we lucky that he had “made time” in his busy schedule to be with us today…..I mean, great for him, but isn’t this what it’s all about? Playing live for his littlest fans?

I don’t know….any Ralph fans out there? Did you catch the show? What did you think?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 23rd, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Main, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.