Heavy Metal Rodeo

December 14, 2010

Finished a painting commission this morning. Going to ship it this afternoon.

On Saturday night in Vegas I treated my hosts Charlie and Linda Waters to dinner at South Point Casino which is the NFR headquarters for the rodeo crowd. The hotel, which is owned by a former rodeo champion, presents the buckles and winnings every night after the rodeo and most of the competitors stay there as well. The parking lot looks like a Montana feed lot with row after row of King Cabs and Diesel Duallys. When Allison and I came into the casino and tried to find the restaurant, we walked past one of those open bar areas, which had a bank of closed circuit TVs, playing the NFR, live from the Mack Center. As we walked by, the National Anthem was playing on the screens and everyone in the bar stood up and took off their hats and held their hats over their hearts—in the bar! Wow! Imagine that at the Whiskey on Sunset Strip.

Still wondering about the wall-to-wall heavy metal music at the National Finals Rodeo I saw in Vegas last Thursday. As I mentioned it was all heavy metal, starting with AC/DC. I wonder what the older guys think about the fact that Country has been usurped by a music style I can't imagine them having in their CD collections. Do you have an opinion about this?

"It's been a long time since I did the stroll."
—Led Zeppelin, "Rock 'n' Roll"