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Mom Spends Summer in Sanitarium
By Beth Bradley Walter
od sport. I have never worn earplugs at any rock concerts I've attended over the years, but then again, the first concert I went to in the seventh grade was The Carpenters. 
It was show time soon enough, so we packed up the car and headed to Minneapolis. While I was taking care of last-minute details in the house, the boys were busy hooking up an adapter to the car so they could play games during the trip. My son wanted to drive, so he backed the car out of the driveway, and then realized he had no brakes. He came close to hitting a tree at high speed before turning off the ignition. At this point I was wishing I could still remember how to do Lamaze. Some relaxation breathing would have come in handy. We figured out the system was overloaded, unplugged the adapter and once again, we were on our way.
Things went smoothly until we arrived in the twin cites and carried on my tradition of getting lost trying to find our hotel. We gave up, parked in a convenient but very expensive lot and arrived at the Metrodome in plenty of time to get our ears blown out by a heavy metal band called MudVayne. Fortunately, they didn't play too long.
A young co-worker of mine who was also attending the concert told me that MudVayne was the one band I wouldn't like. He was right. He assured me the others would be better. With ear plugs and positive attitude intact, the rest of the concerts were actually pretty good.
I was surprised how many songs I recognized by Linkin Park. I guess it's because I live with teenagers and am regularly exposed to their music blaring from the stereo. Limp Biskit even did a rendition of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes." The audience responded by holding their lighters up in the air just like in the '70s