Murf takes another solo trip to spend the evening with George

When I get a bug up my...you know what...rarely does it settle down until I do something about it. Leading up to my trip to Atlanta, I discovered that the country singer George Strait who I currently have a huge crush on was going to be playing in Cincinnati. No one I knew wanted to go so about a month ago, I decided to buy just one measly ticket to the concert and it was a GREAT ticket - 25 rows from the stage, right in the middle. I was even ok with the thought of driving down 4 hours, going to the concert, spending the night in a hotel and driving north again the next morning another 4 hours all by my lonesome.

It was amazing the number of people that exclaimed "You're going by yourself?!?" while giving me this odd, quizzical look. Big A ended up riding down with me but I ditched him in the Holiday Inn and took off by myself to the concert which was at an amphitheater that backed up to the Ohio river (which seemed to increase in stink the lower the sun got).

I will admit that it was a bit odd sitting there, all by myself, but the further along the opening acts were (the first was Julianne Hough of Dancing with the Stars and the second one was Blake Shelton...I write this knowing that the 5 people that read this will still have blank looks on their faces) the more I got into my normal concert mood. Once George sauntered on stage (and I do mean saunter...the crush level just rose exponentially when I saw his walk), I was up and yelling with the best of them. So much so that halfway through when most people had sat down, me and some of the others in my area were still standing and that's when it happened....I got the tap.

Just as George was singing the first verse to 'The Chair', I feel someone tapping my shoulder. I look behind me and it's an older guy from 2 rows back and he asked if I would mind sitting for one song. I'm pretty sure I gave him the blank "I don't understand English" look and then I just turned back around. If I was the only one standing, sure, bust my chops but others still were and if I were to sit, I would be relegated to watching the on stage video screens. No thanks. I did, however, move out into the aisle a tad bit to open up a spot for him to watch from his seat. The funny part was that the older woman next to me, who was standing and dancing in an odd way that was very reminiscent of my mother, also moved left a bit so whether or not he could ever see is something I will never know. Afterwards I was wondering how I got picked out to be the one that gets "the tap" and I think it was because I was the tallest of everyone in that row. To paraphrase a Seinfeld-ism, he was an anti-heightite.

We interrupt this blog entry for a Seinfeld break:



Now, back to the blog entry...

When I look back, I'm really glad I went and in fact, I think I might be hooked on solo concert attending. Now, if only I could break this huge crush on a 57 year old man that is disappointingly shorter than I but has the walk of a Greek God, confidence, and a nice hairless chest to boot.