"I've got two tickets to paradise, pack your bags we leave tonight"
-- Eddie Money
"Two Tickets to Paradise"

You are probably already wondering what the picture or the quote above has to do with sports...absolutely nothing. You may think I'm in love with nothing but the Yankees and UConn, but some of my other interests include the fine music from the 80's, including the man to your left Mr. Edward Joseph Mahoney...aka Eddie Money.

This past Friday night, myself (second from right) and two old friends, Mike (third from right) and Charles (second from left), ventured to Mohegan Sun to see Eddie Money (third from left) rock on stage. He comes to Connecticut about every six months to play a free show at the Wolf Den and we usually make it to all of them.

There was one thing that made this show stand out over all the others I've seen. Not only was Eddie shakin' and groovin' but he decided to pass the microphone to me during his performance of his hit "Take Me Home Tonight". Let's just say Mike and Charles had no control over what happened next. Without hesitation I continued singing the song, "With all the power you're releasing, it isn't safe to walk the city streets alone. Anticipation is running through me, let's find the key and turn this engine on." I was singing (or as my friends said yelling) so loudly that I had to yell to them to gimme some water to cool off my vocal cords.

I didn't find out until later that during my "performance" Eddie was making fun of me to the crowd and pinched his nose and said, "He stinks!". You know what, it didn't matter. I did stink, it did sound awful, but I wanna go back and do it again.

Maybe you are laughing at me right now reading this. You know what though, Eddie Money had more hits than you realize. Go search his catalog and if you are at least 30 years of age, you will have wished you were there too. Plus Eddie still sounds like a million bucks with that signature raspy voice of his.

After the show, we got to meet Eddie and the band and get autographs and pictures taken with them. My friend Charles then asked the band where's the party now and we went and had a couple beers with them.

I have now sang with Eddie Money and Warrant while at concerts. Now I am just hoping Jon Bon Jovi will pass me the mic one day. I am sure that I have a better chance to walk on water than to have that happen, so I'll just stick with the Money Man. And after checking his tour dates, oh baby hold on, he is performing in Danbury next month! Guess I have to go loosen up my pipes!

Writers note: For fun, I hid seven Eddie Money hit song titles throughout this blog (besides "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Take Me Home Tonight"). See if you can find them and let me know. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no way to fit in one of our favorites, "Trinidad"!