I listened to George Strait back in the eighties and nineties and sang along to his cassettes and later, discs, and his music is still timeless country.
In this age of AI and Autotune, meant to deceive the audience (enhance the music?), George used a guitar and microphone.
No explosions.
No laser light show.
No umpteen costume changes.
No New Age dancers.
No flying in on high wires.
But what he DID have was two hours of pure country gold, including some NEW music from an upcoming album.
I can’t wait.
Oh yeah, and he also did one more thing.
He broke the record for the largest American concert EVER, with over 110,000 adoring fans.
He broke a record held by the Queen of Everything, namely Taylor Swift; you might have heard of her.
Although I tried.
I really tried to find some of her music that I could either: tap my foot to with a catchy beat, sing along with a catchy melody, be enlightened by deep, meaningful lyrics, or be amazed at the sheer power of her vocals or the virtuosity of her guitar and piano playing.
Nope.
I still admire the young woman; she appears to be generous with her enormous windfall from her music, so I wish her well.
I honestly do not know one of her songs from her vast catalog and I think if you played an entire song of hers with no vocals, I would not have a clue as to who the artist is.
But give me three bars of the fiddle lead-in to Amarillo by Morning and I’ll know immediately, if not sooner, that the MAN is in the saddle.
It is crazy-hot in the Miami Valley this past week, and combined with 80% humidity, it is a death sentence ready to happen.
I was on a golf course early in the week, and for the very first time in my life on a golf course, I felt tired.
So much so that I had to truncate my round after only seven holes, and I probably should have stopped immediately. An ass-chewing from my cardiologist and a lecture from the internal organ doc were enough to at least admit to the possible mortal effects of pushing my heart past its limit.
“The weather was ninety-one degrees combined with 80% humidity. You are seventy years old with a history of heart problems in your family, you have undergone TWELVE major surgeries, including an amputated leg, and a bad heart being allowed to push blood through your body with the help of eight stents.”
That was his answer to my wonder as to why I tired so quickly.
Who I am worried about are the people in old houses that have inadequate air conditioning. Even wall units have a limited area, and I am sure that is exactly where all the family members are congregated. We went through that exact same thing when we were stationed in Japan. A lot of cities in the north don’t ever get AC installed at all, so when a freak hot spell hits (no global warming, right?), it can be deadly.
Didn’t mean to cheer you up.
Stay well.
Mark's Playhouse 