New in Nashville, part 3

As Erich and I waited for the show to start at LP Field, Bill came back to us to sit and chat for a bit. Bill is such a great friend and supporter. I don't know what I'd do without people like him in my life. Thank you for your kind words, big guy. Love you!

I have to admit that my knowledge of current country music is limited. I follow certain artists - Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, Trace Adkins - and yes, I do like some Carrie Underwood stuff as well. But I don't listen to country radio like I do rock radio; therefore, I didn't know much about the first few people up on stage that night. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by Randy Houser, the first act up on stage. WOW!! Loved, loved him. Not the best video, but this is the song that really caught my attention. I like "rockin' country" - that's how I tried to explain it to Erich - the difference between your grandpa's country and today's country.



The next two acts, Easton Corbin & Billy Currington, were good, too. The Zac Brown Band is completely awesome! But I was totally looking forward to Martina McBride and Rascal Flatts! I've always loved the two of them. Martina didn't disappoint. Man, she was incredible. Erich was totally impressed. I mentioned to him that she is called "The Voice" for a reason! Her performance of 'Broken Wing' completely brought the place to its feet and our reaction made her cry. She was so sweet and seemed really genuine.



Rascal Flatts! Dude! I love me some Rascal Flatts. I kept hoping they'd sing their song 'Bob that Head' because I freakin' love that song. I definitely 'bob my head' when I hear it. I categorize it as a "country rap song". Much like Garth Brooks' 'Ain't Goin' Down Till the Sun Comes Up'. Well....finally, last song, it starts up. I just let out a whoop and jumped up, singing and dancing along.

"Rockin' country!" I yelled to Erich and he smiled and nodded.

This video sucks, but it's all I could find. And if you've never heard the song, you can get a feel for it.



It was an AMAZING show and again, I am just so grateful I was there.

We walked over to the Limelight and had a seat waiting for the traffic to die down a bit - listening to some cover band blaring from inside - then caught a cab back to our hotel. Our driver was really great and knew just how to avoid the crazy traffic attempting to enter the freeway. Despite the crowds, his route to the hotel was the cheapest fare the whole weekend.

It was about 2 a.m. but we were starving so we got in the car and headed to a nearby Waffle House. It was packed with people who had the same yellow LP passes around their necks as we did. There were two empty chairs at the counter and everyone around us waiting for a table were like "If there's just two of you, go ahead and take them. Everyone else has more than two people." Awesome!

We also ate here the previous night. The waitress, with her VERY strong Southern accent, had asked Erich what "dreeesssing you wont for yer saaallad?" and he looked at her like she was speaking Swahili. I had to translate. English is Erich's, um, fifth or sixth language and Southern is a dialect he can't always interpret immediately. Tonight, I had to translate for our waitress. He ordered his hash browns a certain way (I can't remember now) but at Waffle House, there's actually a name for them. She looked at him blankly for a moment before I called the dish by its rightful name. Funny.

Falling into bed at 3 a.m. really super happy and tired in a good way was extremely gratifying. It's still something to me that I can do all this stuff and not be exhausted for five days straight. My recovery time is almost nil. I asked Erich if he had a good time today; it was a really busy day after all! We saw seven concerts along with a few stray singers and bands along the way, loads of shopping and laughing with good friends. He said yes right away, enthusiastically. I reminded him of "rockin' country" and he agreed. He liked the music. Most of it, anyway.

Earlier I asked him about Bo's Chevy Stage show and if he enjoyed the song "Get On & Ride". It's probably the most 'rock' sounding song on Bo's new CD and the one I thought he'd like the most. To my surprise, he said he liked "You Take Yourself With You" at the fan club party the best, which is VERY country! He said it had "meaning". Well. He always manages to surprise me.

We decided to skip Martina McBride's charity auction the next day. Bo was scheduled to appear but honestly...I was thinking what's he gonna do? Hold up an item, people will bid and that's it. I didn't know if I wanted to be up and downtown at 11 a.m. for that. Well, turned out he pretty much conducted the entire auction. Of course he did. FAIL for me. Pffft. Oh well. We were up and at 'em for the bull ride but it took FOREVER to find the damn place where it was being held! My god we were walking around downtown in a circle for about 30 minutes. Didn't even feel it. It's all good.

There were no seats when we finally did make it to the tent with the bull, but I decided to stand. And I did. Again with no problems.

Bo and a bull just don't mix, man. You could tell he didn't have a clue what he was doing. So he decided to do what he does best: Be cute. Be sweet. Be funny. Bo knows how to do that for sure. He stayed on for a full 3.2 seconds. I barely had time to snap a picture!



Afterwards, some of us stood around talking to him for a bit. He said "I got beat by a girl." LMAO! And he did! AGAIN! Another pretty blonde chick, too. I said "Yeah, but she beat her brother, too, so don't feel bad." He blamed that on sibling rivalry (they were the brother-sister singing duo The Roys). "Doesn't count!" he laughed. We backed off a bit so other fans could get their picture with him. I stood there for a while, just hanging out. In the past, I would've been parked on a seat and missed all this interaction.

I stood in line to get another picture. And once again, he greeted me with "Hi Cindy! How are you?" I love the way he says my name, with a slight Southern inflection on the 'in' part. *fangirly sigh* I told him I was fine, that I hated bugging him for another pic but we needed lots of updated pictures because all of ours were 200 pounds ago. He laughed and said...AGAIN..."yeah but you look great, though." If he keeps telling me that, I may sell everything I own and just follow him around like the Grateful Dead. I'm kidding. Really. Maybe.



Some of the girls were headed a couple blocks away to have lunch at Demo's, a well-known restaurant downtown. The 'couple blocks' part would've had me politely turning down invitations before but now I was ready to roll. So off we went with Deb & Jen. There were hills. No one told me that. LOL! No problem now but OMG, I would've been just so upset pre-op. Upset at MYSELF, that I couldn't keep up.

After we got to Demo's, we of course had to stand around and wait for a table. All of this is stuff that normal people don't even think about. But I really notice and celebrate how I can now join them in 'not thinking about it'.

It was great to sit and relax with a good meal and great conversation with friends. We ended up leaving with Deb and Beth, as Jen had to get back to her hotel. All of us were anxious to see the LoCash Cowboys at the Chevy Stage in a little while. LoCash are big with Bo fans (they shared a bill with him once and things took off from there) but neither Beth nor I had seen them live. As we made our way back over where we came from, I was walking along at one point and Erich said "Honey, you want to wait for the girls?" I had totally taken off and left Deb and Beth! OMG! I stopped and waited while they laughed at how they were having to keep up with me. It was one of those weird post-weight-loss moments.

I know I said this would be the final installment of the Nashville trip, but we're gonna have another one. Sorry! Hope you all can put up with my long-winded recap. LOL!