Willie For President

OK, half in jest, I told Becky she should let me take over her blog while she was in NY & now I've got Conway (pardon me, Cinciripino) riding my ass telling me Becky would've posted by now & where is my first post. So I says to her "Heather, I will see what I can do. I will drop everything & come up with something right now. Just for you." What you may not know is that there is a huge Heckasac rulebook & rule #1 is: "Talk about something other than yourself". Now of course you can be in the story but basically I can't just be all "I'm eating a good sandwich right now & I'm tired." Fortunately, I went & saw Willie Nelson last night so here is a review.

This was my first time seeing ol' Willie & I think my expectations were a little high. I liked it but rarely was I totally wrapped up in creaky velvet Willieness. Pancho & Lefty was the highlight for me. The songs I thought would get a thorough workout (Whiskey River for example) seemed oddly brief & I got the feeling that the Family was going through the motions a bit. Now I don't mean for this to be a bad review. The show was fun & besides, I was in the same place as Willie - it was just not the epic thing I had imagined. It was at Raley Field so it had a more casual state fair vibe going on. The crowd never really fully settled in & there was lots of talking & walking around. One thing I will say is that Willie has some off the chain solos in him! He'd pull these solos out of his bandana that were borderline avant-garde! That was my favorite part. Also, I found myself getting way too in to Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys. I'm not sure if Willie reads Heckasac but if he does I would like to tell him to reintroduce Bloody Mary Morning back in to his set. I wasn't expecting Phases & Stages but no Bloody Mary Morning??!! C'mon Willie! And ditch the long blues jams! I know. A little blues lick, some sultry harmonica & half the ladies in the place have their shirts off - but you got songs Nelson! Songs that this guy wants to hear. I haven't even told you about the random "Willie For President" theme that was running throughout the evening. This guy came out before Willie played & said "How many of you are voting for George Bush?", then "How many of you are voting for John Kerry?" and then the kicker: "How many of you are voting WILLIE FOR PRESIDENT!!??". This would've gone off better if there weren't such a tense amount of boos & cheers when both real candidates' names were mentioned. If you want an accurate presidential poll, I suggest conducting it at a Willie concert. I entertained the idea of buying one of the Willie For President posters but then I saw that they were $25. That's how much my ticket was!! I'll make my own Willie For President poster thank you. Ed was suggesting that Neil Diamond be his running mate so I'm thinking maybe a "Nelson/Diamond '04" lawn sign might be just the thing to shake things up in ol' East Sac. What else? I'd like to give a shoutout to drunk-dog in front of me who early on was shaping up to be the worst but his near religious reverence for Willie made him the best. He'd be talking really loudly with his friends through whole songs, but during other songs he's shush everyone & become very quiet & focused. And he made friends with the old couple next to him & kept buying them beer. The old lady had her arm around him by the end of the night. It was Ed's birthday so we went to the Flame afterwards & Sacramento was playing in there when we arrived. All in all, a pretty sweet late summer Sac evening.
Other than that, I'm eating a good sandwich right now & I'm tired.