Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Just Give It Away

I'm going to a George Strait concert in a couple of weeks. Until sometime this week, I had never (intentionally) listened to a George Strait song. But now I even have the chorus line from the first song on his new album firmly planted in my mind. Excellent earworm work, Mr. Strait.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with country music. Growing up, my mom listened to it every opportunity that she got (which, frankly, were not many, because my sister and I did our best to change her car radio immediately to something more pre-teen friendly). I teased her mercilessly about the subject matter of the songs she loved (always involving two-timing, alcohol and a truck). However something about the predictable nature of the music and the booming male voices was kind of soothing.

And when Garth Brooks hit... Well, let's just say that it is impossible for me to hear Friends In Low Places and not get a bit nostalgic. Post-college I even broadened my horizons a bit and learned to love Hank Williams Jr. and that song (I don't know who sings it) about calling a wino to decorate our home (so you'll feel more at ease here, and you won't have to roam). I mean really. Genius.

Still, there is country music that I flat out hate. Alan Jackson, Toby Keith and the other flag thumpers can shove it. And that song about Earl by the Dixie Chicks? Awful. Though some of their other stuff is fairly catchy.

So how does it come to be that I am travelling to another state on my birthday weekend in order to see the show of some country singer that I've never even listened to before? Well, it helps that the destination is Las Vegas. And that I'll be going with some of my favorite people in the whole world.

Mike is a country music fan. I'd say that he is a closet country music fan, but he's been more open and honest about it lately. (It is for some reason something that people outside of Texas are ashamed to admit.)

And my friend LJ, who works for one of the last remaining big record labels and can get us tickets to most shows worth seeing, is oddly obsessed with the new George Strait album. She heard it at work and, though she insists that she is not a country music fan, hurried to investigate where his tour stops will be. I guess that LA is not a hotbed for country music fans, because he is not coming here. So LJ planned this trip to go see a country music guy and when we heard it would be in Vegas, baby, AND that it would be on Super Bowl weekend, we thought we should go along for the ride.

I also intend to meet a balloon entertainer to the stars (!!!) on this trip. And to spend some time in "rehab" with Alice, another one of my most favorite people ever. Oh, glorious booze-laden rehab!!

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