I am a solitary person. Not lonely or a loner, mind you, but solitary. I enjoy the hell out of my own company and have a few very close friends whose company I enjoy the hell out of as well. However, friends sometimes have to grab me by the earlobes to get me out of the house. One of my friends is kind of like me in that she tends to be a homebody, too, and we've determined that we need a catalytic someone to get us both by the earlobes and out of the house more often. So it was, that when I got a call from her this week to go see a band at the Red Earth festival in OKC, I hesitated nary a second to say "Sure. let's go!" (I ignored a small tug at my sleeve from the poker imp saying "It's Friday night - what about the fish on Party Poker [Bonus Code KEB] ????]) I had never heard of the band and had no idea what to expect, but it was an evening out of the house with a good friend and that beats pixels on a computer screen any day.
She picked me up after work and we arrived at the festival early for the concert. After strolling by some of the vendors (she pick up a calendar of Native American cheesecake - and got it autographed - for her husband who collects such things...) we then went in to the arena to find some seats. I hadn't been inside this arena for probably at least 20 years. It was looking sad and shop-worn. The first seat I sat in was broken. I remember when this arena was built and was haled as the largest in the state and with state-of-the-art everything. It could go from rodeo to ice-rink within 24 hours. My sophomore year in college I saw Led Zeppelin there and was awed by the catwalks above my head and felt so far from the stage. Sitting there yesterday, those memories were dimmed by the hazy weariness of the arena in its current state. No longer state-of-the-art anything, it was small by today's standards of mega-arenas that can fit entire city populations inside them. We were sitting somewhat in the area where I remember being for the Led Zeppelin concert, a ways from the stage here, but would be considered close in the bigger arenas of today.
While we waited for the concert to start, my friend and I discussed the things people of our age tend to discuss. Topics ranged from the obligatory cat tales to our aches and pains and all the different medications we're on. We laughed at our 'geezer-ness.' There were only a few hundred people in the audience by the time the opening band came out to play. The chairs on the floor stopped at about halfway and had a smattering of people in them. They filled to about three-quarters full in time for the main band to take the stage.
Indigenous warmed up to the small crowd pretty quickly and put on a show worthy of a filled arena. They had their groupies in the audience. A chorus of "We love you!" sang out from a group of girls across the arena from us after one number. By the third or fourth number, I'd closed my eyes and let the 18 year old that still resides within me out of her 'room.' I rocked. The years melted away and I was in that arena of 20 years ago, rocking out, feeling the music move through me, around me, in me. The rhythm primal and sensuous making deep, dirty love to my senses.
It was immediately obvious the lead player/singer was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix - he polished off some licks on his guitar that would have made the man himself sit up from his grave and take notice. They closed the show with the John Lee Hooker tune Dimples. Hendrix and Hooker - my night was complete. My friend dared me to yell "We love you" - and, of course, I did. I think the lead singer smiled.... Indigenous - check 'em out, they deserve a larger audience.
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On the poker front - I engaged in a marathon session today - 7 hours. I hadn't intended to be so long, but, after reaching a peak of about +45BB at a $25 NL table, I stayed too long at the fair, so to speak, received some bad beats and out-plays and found myself at -7BB. I was determined to end at least at even. I switched gears, took a risk and moved over to a $3/6 table (children, do not follow my example and do this without a sufficient bankroll - I know the risk I am taking to do this!) - it was an entertaining table with several loose players - really, the only difference between this table and the micro tables was the amount of the limits. One player saw more than 80% of the flops and reloaded at least twice. He raised whenever he had a face in his hand - never mind what it was paired with. He gave a few bad beats to several of us at the table - and got a few himself, which was sweet to watch his KK and QQ get busted by someone else's trash.
I remained steady, making good decisions and paying heed to odds in order to bust this guy. I called him down more than once and lined my pockets with his cash. This guy had more money than sense and I was glad to relieve him of the former. I ended the marathon up a rough average of +44 BB, earning me about $6.50 an hour - better than minimum wage, donchaknow. It was fun, but not something I'd like to make a habit of - the marathon, I mean. I'd have no problem making a habit of winning $$ !!
