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Welcome Larry!
In this issue:
Mid Life Crisis Plays theThe Inaugural Ball I promised some of you a follow-up, so here it is. To the others, I thought this might be of interest. Sharon and I arrived Friday Jan. 16 at about 4 pm. It was 8° outside! After checking into the hotel, we walked we walked around the huge Gaylord Hotel where we were staying. The Potomac was frozen over. Despite the cold weather, however, the atmosphere was very warm. Everyone we met - from cabbies to waiters, hotel and store clerks, and folks on the street - was enthusiastic, friendly, happy and hopeful. The good feeling was infectious. The band played a private function Saturday night which was great because we had not played with Rob [our drummer] in almost 4 years [he moved to DC nearly 4 years ago]. It was a small function - a little over 200 folks. It gave us a chance to rehearse, in effect, but it went very well. The head sound guy working the event was also on the Black Tie and Boots crew. That proved helpful, because he was able to stop by and fill in the sound techs on a few details as they were setting us up Monday afternoon. Sunday was a day off. Sharon and I rented a car and drove to Annapolis to see some of its rich nautical history first hand. There we saw a group of about 20 420s racing for hours in those icy cold conditions. That reminded me why we’re in Texas Monday, the band met for lunch, went to our ballroom to check it out, picked up our credentials for the night, etc. I went down to get my boots shined and there was Bart Bentley, one of our guitar players, sitting next to Kevin Fowler – a country singer from Texas and FOD. The Black Tie & Boots Ball was at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. They sold 13,000 tickets, which broke the prior record of 12,000 in 2001. We played the ’01 event and the crowd this time was vastly different. Younger and more diverse, as one might imagine. There were 3 ballrooms - ours was the smallest [max. capacity of around 1,000 – we had about 800 in there all night. Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), Jack Ingram and Fowler played in the big room, which held about 5,000. There was another room that had about a 3,000 capacity - also country music, but more traditional, e.g., current Bob Wills band, Asleep at the Wheel. We had the only “non-country” room, and the 8:30 -10:30 slot, which turn out to be the best slot. A local oldies cover band opened from 7 – 8. We do mainly 50’s and 60’s R & B, complete with 3 horns – Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, James Brown, Sam Cooke, etc. Our crowd was older and at least 30% African American – so basically we were covering the music the audience grew up with. About ½ way thru set 2 we played “Change Is Gonna Come” – a Sam Cooke song written to honor Dr. King. Our lead singer announced the song as such, but said it seems as though it were written just for this occasion. The dance floor was packed solid; as we got into the song, many couples started hugging and just moving to the music; a few started to cry, and the tears spread – all the way to the stage, as the band itself started to cry along with the audience. By the time the song was over, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. It was pretty moving, and in a way, emblematic of the whole experience – a white band covering black music, playing to a diverse audience – and it worked well. Everyone felt the barriers coming down around them. After our set, we went to the big room and caught the last few songs of CCR’s set and stayed for most of Ingram’s set. The audience in that room was almost all under 30. 0 By about 12:30 am, the old codgers had run out of gas and went back to our hotel.Tuesday was the Inauguration – unless you were a super VIP, you needed to be out there in the cold by 4 am at the latest [we weren’t]. Despite the large crowd, there weren’t any arrests or reports of pick pockets, etc. I guess it was that same spirit we encountered the entire time. It’s back to business now, but I hope and believe at least some measure of this will have lasting effects, especially on race relations. Sorry this was so long!
Dr Joe
Have a great day!
4Smiling Aesthetic Dentistry
ph: 281-488-0387 - email: DrJoe@4Smiling.com