Amy and I had the opportunity to attend a concert for "free," and it dovetailed nicely into the fact that I'm on vacation. Yes, I got these particular tickets for "free," but so did everyone else in the audience. It was the wrap up of Toby Keith's latest tour, sponsored - heavily - by Ford, and the concert was for "Ford truck owners." Anyone who believes that because I'm in radio that I get free concert tickets all the time doesn't realize where I am in the food chain.
I'm not a Ford truck owner, I have been, but after Amy and I were married and the kids started to grow, I realized cramming three kids into my little pickup was not going to fly unless we stopped feeding them. That didn't appear to be an option, so we ended up getting rid of my pick-up and getting a van.
I once had a friend who remarked that when you buy a mini-van, "it sucks the cool right out of you."
That's probably true...it's not the last time that pragmatism won out over pride...but that's another rabbit trail.
Anyway, a public relations person offered me tickets to this show which was Ford's first attempt to stage a concert exclusively for buyers of its trucks, as sort of a reward.
San Antonio is apparently the staging ground for the great pickup truck war. Last week Toyota opened its huge new truck making facility here and the battle is on for the hearts and long term low interest debt of pickup truck buyers.
It was a wonderful concert/extended Ford commercial. We had good seats, there was no charge for parking, and we managed to stay up past 8 p.m. on a Sunday, which is a feat in itself.
Toby Keith put on a raucous patriotic show and a good time was had by all.
However, I was intrigued by the opening act. I must admit, I never could hear the band's name, and I couldn't find their name on the web either.
Okay, I didn't waste a lot of time looking...
I was struck by how much they looked like a band of rock 'n rollers from my haze days. Country music has come a long way from the suit and tie days of Tom T. Hall.
The lead singer had hair down to his waist, and did not appear to all that fond of soap and water. And then there was this guy:
He was tall, not including the odd stovepipe hat he was wearing...but he wasn't that tall. However his feet...they were huge!
They looked stretched out.
Amy said maybe he was wearing over-sized shoes to "match his outfit."
This guy didn't hit me as a fashion trendsetter by any means and wearing silver shoes makes a statement in and of itself in my mind, but I've also tried on shoes that were too big and it's not easy to get around in them. You end up stubbing your toe, or what would be your toe if your shoes fit, and tripping quite easily. I can't envision hopping about on stage with a bass in giant clown shoes.
No, I think those are his real feet. They had to be size 17 or 18.
So I think I've found Bigfoot. He's shaved, put on a hat, and is playing bass for Toby Keith's opening act.
Then again...I could be mistaken...maybe he was someone else entirely.
I'm probably just chasin' rabbits.
