Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Deep in the Heart of Dallas, TX




With me and my audiobook, the drive from Houston to Dallas went smoothly. Seems to me I've made that drive once before when Keith played the Houston Rodeo one night and then a special private House of Blues show in Dallas the next night.

I had looked up possible stops on the Roadfood website and ended up at a very interesting one in Huntsville, TX where the little New Zion Missionary Baptist Church operates a little Texas BBQ out of a rather ramshackle building next to the church. I figured I should have some good BBQ and also ordered a slice of old fashioned buttermilk pie. I chowed down on the ribs right away but couldn't finish all the brisket, so had a 'doggy bag' to take with me.

The Dallas venue was close to the Dallas fairgrounds and was quite large. I was back up in the upper tier tonight so pretty much all my videoclips had to be shot from the video screens. I was happy to see that Keith's video wall was back in commission (or they had a spare wall sent down from Nashville?) because tonight I was going to depend on the video screens.

After the first four songs, Keith greeted and joked with the audience, having fun with his spotlight.
Then he read a few signs and brought one gal, who had a sign like one of those Mastercard "priceless" commercials (Something like: Bought a ticket- check, Drove 5 hours - check, All for the Hall- check, Getting a hug from Keith - Priceless") up on stage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWH-sldHSTk After chatting with her and giving her a hug, Keith asked where her man was and did he want to come up and take a photo of them. As the guy came up and they prepared for the photo, Keith told the audience "Talk amongst yourselves. Here's a topic: Dueling banjos only had one banjo - discuss!" : ) Before the photo the gal must have asked Keith to sign her concert teeshirt (which she was carrying, not wearing) - but to have a solid surface to allow him to write on it, Keith had to kind of place the shirt on her shoulder/upper chest, mulling to himself "What must this look like? And her man is standing right behind me...." Because it was taking some time he also joked about what he was writing "We the people.... Four score and seven years ago..."

When that couple left stage and Keith was about to go on, he seemed to remember that something else was up that night and asked "Where's Josh?" He explained "I don't know Josh, I've never met Josh, but his friend slipped me a note at the meet and greet tonight. Josh and his girlfriend were conveniently located in the pit and Keith brought them up and then stepped back. Apparently Josh had asked for permission to propose marriage on stage! Josh pulls out a sheet of notes of what he wants to say. He was a bit nervous and soft spoken, so it was hard to catch all of it, but he had pieced together lots of Keith's lyrics to create his proposal. It did go on a bit and in the background eventually Keith starts making "come on, wrap it up" gestures (Josh was oblivious) annd eventually Keith creeps over and tugs on Josh's leg to make him get down on one knee and finish up. Her girlfriend gave Josh a big "yes"hug and Keith said "oh my God I'm glad she said yes!" He proceeded to question her: "When is the wedding? Can we all come? and says "Next Friday is good for me." (hee hee) She actually jumped on that offer (but in fact Keith is in St. Louis Friday). He asked them where they were from (Cameron, TX) and wished them wedded bliss and God's blessings.

For You was in the setlist again tonight (after Without You).  When Keith, Jerry and Chris went out to the small stage, we got a little bonus: First a few lines from ZZ Top's song Tush that mentions Dallas:

I been bad, I been good,
Dallas, Texas, Hollywood.
I been bad, I been good,
Dallas, Texas, Hollywood.

This was followed by a few lines of Deep in the Heart of Texas. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIj3-DQaRzo[/url]
 During tonight's Once in a lifetime Keith made yet another little lyric change to: "Then the first ones born, then a sister comes along, and she's got your curly hair."  

Keith asked the audience to light up their cells for Tonight I Wanna Cry [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmGh86H-I50[/url]

My one closer view of the evening was oh so brief. Keith did come out to the end of my row for You Look Good in My Shirt. But almost as soon as this happen the crowd that rushed up, with their phone and camera arms raised up high, pretty much totally blocked my view : (

Maybe because tonight they did not need to rush off so quickly to another venue, Keith stayed quite a while not only shaking hands but also signing lots of autographs- so generous with his fans!

Once again I had searched for "late night dining in east Dallas" for a post-concert dinner. I have to say I was amazed at the lack of fast food, strip malls, or restaurants along the route my GPS took me. But I finally ended up at a place called Mexico Lindo that was packed at midnight. I knew Texas had good Mexican food and this place offered the full Hispanic experience! In this crowded restaurant with menus in Spanish I was the only gringo, surrounded by families - some with babies or kids, some with grandmas - as well as a long table of young ladies dressed in their finest for what looked like a "swwet sixteen" birthday party, while much of the rest of the patrons were fully engaged in Karaoke night (all in Spanish of course). I don't speak Spanish but I recognized enough on the menu to order my Carne Asada and thoroughly enjoyed my cultural immersion.





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