Creedence Clearwater Revival was a special slice of Americana that still sounds timeless to this day. They had that “it” factor” and I cannot think of anything else that really sounds like them. John Fogerty’s songwriting and that voice of his was always something I gravitated towards when my father would play records like Cosmo’s Factory. It’s fucked up but I actually stole the Chronicle, Vol. 1 CD from a party when I was in my teens. That is when I really got into CCR. That compilation is solid all the way through.

Fast forward to 2009 and Creedence Clearwater Revisited was playing at the fairgrounds in Del Mar. Long story short John Fogerty and the rest of CCR had some very bad blood between them so the original rhythm section consisting of Stu Cook on bass and Doug “Cosmo” Clifford on drums were touring around with a bald man singing and playing guitar under the moniker Creedence Clearwater Revisited and I thought this might be as close as I would ever get to experiencing these songs live. It really was great to hear the music of CCR live and they sounded good but I am all about the voice and the songs just were not the same without John Fogerty’s unique voice. The truth is they could have sounded like shit and I still would have been excited because of the gal I met up with at the show…

I met a gal named Ingrid a little more than three weeks before this show when I was completely shithoused. I woke up the next morning with her face burned into my mind and told my friend “I think I met a girl last night.” Then as I scrolled through my phone I learned that not only did I meet a girl, but I was apparently charming enough in my drunken state to get her phone number. Days later we actually spoke on the phone and set up a dinner date in Old Town. Full disclosure I did not have high hopes for the date. We seemed like we might be too different as she lived downtown and I lived in OB. By the time we met up in Old Town I also could not remember exactly what she looked like. As I was waiting to meet up with her I saw a gal across the street that looked like someone I would go for but she was too far away to see all the details. All I could think was “please let that be her.” Then she called me and I could see that the gal in question had a phone in her hand and was walking towards me. All I could think in my head at that moment is “YES!” We ended up hitting it off and I think we made loose plans for this show during that first date.

I think I text her to confirm about the show and she responded that she would let me know for sure but it was now the day of the show and I had still not heard from her. Just as I began to question if we really did hit it off that night and accept the fact that this was not going to happen she finally contacted me and asked if I cared if she brought her sister along. I did not. We met there and I remember having a little pack of Jelly Belly jellybeans that I used to get into good graces with her sister. We rode the sky car, shared a quick kiss in the photo booth and had a blast at the show.

After the show ended we hopped on the tram to take us deep into the parking lot where our cars were parked. I wanted to give her a kiss goodbye but it felt weird with all those people and her sister around so I did not. By the time I walked back to my Jeep after separating from her she had text me saying something to the effect of “Nice kiss goodbye.” I knew then and there at the very least we were going to be in each other’s lives for the foreseeable future.