Giant Pepper in Syracuse (playing basketball)

To continue with our travelogue . . . . . not only did we go to Jamestown and Dansville, we went to Syracuse for the NYS Fair! Could the summer get any better? I mean really, what could possibly top Dansville and Jamestown? Not much - but seeing Giant Pepper was close!
Wait . . . . back the bus up! Giant Pepper?!? You are most likely wondering WHO that is. If not, then you and Timmy have a bond that can't (and shouldn't) be explained - or talked about in public. I know I have mentioned that our boys love out "hippie" music. They want Derek Trucks to give them guitar lessons. They know the Mike Mattison is in two bands. They know 99% of the lyrics to Susan Tedeschi's songs. We are proud! They both LOVE Giant Pepper. Timmy thinks he is really cool - and he's one of Timmy's favorite singers. They think it's really cool that mommy got to see him in concert - and that Nana went, too! Timmy's second favorite song has Giant Pepper singing.
So, who is Giant Pepper? Well, it's none other than John Popper! Duh!?! Who else would it be?  Timmy actually thought his name was Giant Pepper - and when he asked me to play a Giant Pepper song, I was stumped. It took me a minute to figure it out - Timmy finally had to tell me he wanted to hear "I Shall be Released". And yes, I got the "Duh mom" eyeroll attitude. Don't know where he got it . . . .
When we told the boys that we were taking them to the concert, they were psyched! Now that Timmy has his name figured out, instead of seeing Blues Traveler, we saw the John Popper Band. I think Timmy's name change kind of takes the coolness factor out and adds a geriatric factor. I tried to correct him but - well, most of you know how much fun THAT is. (shut up, peanut gallery)
The concert was amazing - so amazing that Timmy fell asleep 2/3 of the way through and Andrew played his DS. In all fairness, we had been at Rich's company picnic all afternoon so it had been a long day. The boys did enjoy it and loved when I brought them up front so I could get a few pictures. Tiimy said that the music was loud - should he be the pot or the kettle?
BUT . . . . in order to GET to the concert, we had to go to Syracuse. No big deal - hop on the thruway and drive for an hour. The boys were fine until we said something about almost being in Syracuse. Now, I can't tell you exactly how the rest of the conversation went because it involved Timmy. If I remember and understand it, he thought we were going to a basketball game at the State Fair before we saw The John Popper Band. Don't ask - I don't know. We patiently explained that Syracuse is a city, the State Fair is held once a year in Syracuse, and we were going to see BLUES TRAVELER.
Then came the comment of the day . . . .
"Oh!!! Syracuse is so famous that they named the city after the basketball team!"
I can't make it up. Seriously.
Then he informed us that he wants to work at the fair when he is older. He said that he won't own his music store so he could work the fair - but then decided that he could do both and just take a vacation to work the fair. . . .  "Just like people who work at Wegmans do when they work the fair."
Again, seriously. He and Sofia are going to roam the country working as carnies . . . . and being groupies for the John Popper Band - which by then will live up to the new geriatric name!