Travelogue: Keystone Conference 2026 – My Day One, Part One

I think I resemble those legs…

My, oh, my, I do love this song! It is one of my “endless loop” songs. Sniff ‘n The Tears for the uneducated. Yet another one-hit fav!!!!

Throw me into solitary confinement and play one song on an endless loop. If it were this one, I’d be good.

Doing alright
A little jiving on a Saturday night
And come what may
Gonna dance the day away

Jenny was sweet
She always smiled for the people she'd meet
On trouble and strife
She had another way of looking at life

The news is blue (the news is blue)
Had its own way to get to you (ooh)
What can I do? (What can I do?)
I now remember my time with you

Pick up your feet
Got to move to the trick of the beat
There is no elite
Just take your place in the driver's seat

Driver's seat (ooh)
Driver's seat (yeah)

Doing alright (ooh)
A little jiving on a Saturday night (yeah)
And come what may (ooh)
Gonna dance the day away (yeah)

Driver's seat (ooh)
Driver's seat (yeah)

Jenny was sweet (ooh)
There is no elite (yeah)
Pick up your feet (ooh-ooh)
Pick up, pick up (yeah)
Pick up your feet (ooh)
Gonna dance this day away (yeah)

Driver's seat (ooh-ooh)
Driver's seat (yeah)
Driver's seat (ooh)
Driver's seat (yeah)

Yeah
Driver's seat

Songwriters: Paul Roberts

Tell me you can’t hear it as you see this (I know only I will read all the lyrics). Billboard No. 15 in 1979, as I have stated the seminal year of my (and many’s) life. That transitional year from being a senior in high school to being shipped off to independence in your first year of college. Glad I had a Catholic education to learn for three years prior (do the math) how to hold my alcohol before going off to school at yet another Catholic school. All of my Catholic schools, from grade school (friends I work with to this day) to high school (friends I still socialize with and love music with) to college (friends whom I would take a bullet for, even now, over 30 years later), have shaped my life. Too bad many, many, many priests cannot….I’ll stop there. I had my close calls as well.

Quick story. I was the first in my generation on both side of our family, to go to college. As such, it was all on me to figure this shit out. My Dad (God bless him, I love and miss you Dad) got me a job at school. But never having been on campus himself, he had no idea what’s what. So, he was told to drop me off two weeks before school began because, as a janitor, I had work to do! I am on campus with maybe seven other fools. Mom is freaking out, never having had her eldest away from home. By the time they got home (maybe six hours but only took me three when making the same drive), they called my phone (remember, no cell phones, a phone hanging on the wall). I had already organized a small party (beer included) in my dorm room/closet I lived in that year, with the other rubes. Told Mom, I was good. I still think about that day as I do carry forward my obligation as her (without Dad) financial adviser/tax guy, etc… She’s 87, I am not far behind (I have lived dog years).

I, as usual, digress. I was in the proverbial Driver’s Seat on my way to Keystone! I was supposed to have a passenger, but I believe she found something better to do. All I know (and she knows who she is), she needs to do this just like I told her she needed to go to Erie (and she would concur, I was right). She may well get to Keystone sometime, but it will be on her own as I am desperately trying to pull myself out of this loop, only a few friends there keep pulling me back. Love me some of my close friends, tiring of the drama, investment of time and money, drinking FAR too much, etc…

I know I have been open about not wanting to attend these gatherings anymore. It is not because of the gatherings themselves. It is for two principal reasons. One, the expense and the guilt (all in my head, no other reason for it) for the selfishness of doing this. I am married; we are a couple. My wife could not careless that I am going, but I will always harbor some guilt about having this fun and spending this money on me and me alone. That’s part of being married for now 40 years.

The other reason is to see friends. I won’t make a list here about who I wanted to see, but there were specific people, who told me they were going and changed my mind (my decision, no one coerced me) about attending. Later, well after it was too late to change my plans, I found out two of those key friends could not make it. One let me know, the other did not (and had no obligation to do so). Look, I get it, we all have our lives to live, stuff happens, things come up, life throws a curve ball. While I headed there knowing I would have a good time, I did so already disappointed. Very happy I decided to you and even happier I decided to keep it short.

For many, Keystone is their time, maybe the only chance they get to be themselves. Me, aaaaaaaa, not so much! Also, many learn things there, me, aaaaaaa, not so much. Plus, I am drop dead sick of driving, as I do it day after day, night after night. I always try to lay out here what I am experiencing and what is going through my head when I post. Often, once I write something, things change. But this was my mindset heading East.

I arrived much earlier than expected, March 20, 2026, which had me in a great mood from the start. Got settled, saw friends immediately and caught up on some work and the blog. The good turned to bad. First off, I came to find out a good friend (as good a friend as is possible in our world) passed away. That sucked. Then I went to my room, checked email, etc. and went to close the laptop, just as I have done hundreds of times before. Crunch! The monitor broke. While I can still use it for now, it has to get fixed. I am afraid if I don’t do something, it will get worse, so my planned afternoon of rest upon returning home has to include a trip to get this taken care of. I also tried to call a local Geek Squad, to see if I could have gotten it repaired in Harrisburg. I wanted to put my fist through a wall as I could not get a single human being to speak with, only AI, which I know could not have answered my question. Finally, the dress you will see me wearing for the evening was my emergency dress, just in case something happened. Yep, something happened. I was zipping up my planned dress with a ribbon and hook I have to zip myself (purchased and made for that exact purpose), it caught and ripped the zipper. I had to pull an Incredible Hulk to get out of the dress. The whole series of problems left me seeking liquid relief.

We’ll get into the rest of the evening in the next post, here was my traveling and daytime outfit.

Find peace and joy.

Postscript: The actual day this post runs, I am beginning 10 consecutive days as Kandi, Challenge Match (fundraising) Associate for The Cleveland International Film Festival. It dawned on me, this felon, this monkey truck driver, this less-than-attractive transwoman-ish, is an integral part of three nationally known, Cleveland-based institutions: The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland International Film Festival and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies. Not a bad resume…