Barbecue, Dale Watson and the Pain of Edits
Odd night last night. We started off by meeting our friends Ann and Bob for dinner at Black Dog. Food was wonderful, it felt wonderful to be with them after way too long and even got to say hello to Mike for a minute. Man, I'm impressed with what he's created with that place. Not that I'm surprised...he's one of those guys that when he does something, he does it very well...but it's still impressive. So after some good food (burnt ends yes! and a smoked sweet potato) we trundled off to the Rose Bowl. That place fills up quickly for shows but we snagged spots at the bar near the door which isn't a bad vantage point.
Last time we saw him there (I missed one show since then) he was fantastic and this show was sold out so it seemd like it was bound to be great. It was, uh....o.k. I don't know. He spent SO much time inbetween songs talking, joking about alcohol, drinking shots, talking some more.....it was hard to get into a rhythm. I mean I'll always to happy to drink a toast to Ray Price but then I want to hear music! What he did play sounded good---I really liked some of the new songs and will no doubt pick up the album....but I felt like something was missing last night. I still love him though. Anyone else have any thoughts? Kent---you were there....were you there Tim? Dawna?
Of course I missed the end of the show as we got a hysterical phone call from Owen. I couldn't get him settled down so I left my husband in care of Ann and Bob and went home. All the way home I sputtered and was furious that I had to leave but then I got home and I could hear the sobbing from the front yard. Sigh.
Evidently he went to recopy his essay from school (for display in the hall although I didn't figure that out till later and why that hadn't been done earlier I have no idea) and found that his teacher had rewritten some of it. He was devastated....absolutely devastated....she even took out one of his favorite sentences. I talked about how even great writers have editors to no avail. Heartbreak. Utter and complete heartbreak.
Sigh.
So I couldn't even yell at him. He hiccuped his way through recopying it and I wandered around the house restlessly. Eventually I got him into bed and I read until Ernie got home. Sort of an unsatisfying night BUT today is Friday and it's a THREE DAY WEEKEND!
And hell....we were drinking.....but Dale was definitely outpacing us....he looked like this a lot of the time: