Country

A vote for sensibility

In a rare turn of events I'm actually going to recommend that people goto PETA's GoVeg.com website and vote in their poll. One of the contestants in their sexiest vegetarian celebrity poll is Carrie Underwood. Unlike many of the blogger-vegetarians who try to convince others at every turn that they have some great reason that everyone should convert to their views Underwood has a more reasonable approach. This is what she recently said:

"People think it's such a hard thing," she said, "but it's really not. It's just about substitution. I don't go preaching to people that 'Oh, you don't need to be eating meat' because I don't like people preaching to me, so I'm not gonna preach to them. Everybody else can eat whatever they feel like eating if that makes them happy, but there's several lines of food. I'm not gonna go through them all but it is a process, and I love my Whole Foods and I love my Wild Oats. I'm good with the things that I eat."

Undoubtedly she'll be kicked out of the vegetarian movement by an angry vegan who knows best. While we're on the topic of PETA and other hypocritical groups it is time to take a look at those who suggest vegetarianism is environmentally more sound than a traditional diet. The reality is that a balanced locally produced diet is far more environmentally sound than pumping carbon-dioxide into the air to move lettuce, rice and other foods around the globe.

George Strait in Concert

Early this month we went to see George Strait in concert at the MGM Grand Arena. The venue is disappointing in the terrible entrance and exit. The shortcomings of the venue aside it was a great concert.

Taylor SwiftTeenage, country-newcomer, Taylor Swift was first up. Her inexperience and youth definitely show up, especially when paired with the experience of legends like Strait and Ronnie Milsap. Swift's prolific song-writing is impressive to say the least. One can only wonder what she will become as her voice and stage presence matures. Her on-stage jokes about getting back at past boyfriends and those who treated her poorly were funny the first time. They lost their appeal on the second and third repetition.

8 seconds under this cowboy's hat

Many years too early champion bronc rider turned country artist Chris LeDoux, 56, died in Casper Wyoming. The news comes days after LeDoux checked in to the hospital for complications relating to the treatment of bile duct cancer.

You'll ride a black tornado 'cross the western sky
rope an ol blue norther and milk it till it's dry
bulldog the Mississippi, pin it's ears down flat
long before you take this cowboys hat...
This Cowboy's Hat - Chris LeDoux

LeDoux's hat was taken from us far too soon.

'Almost Heaven'

As a fan of John Denver for many years I was excited to see the Denver Center Theater Company's production of 'Almost Heaven'. Without having read extensively about the production I expected an impersonation of Denver in a telling of his life with a musical retrospective thrown in.

The production we saw was not at all what I expected. Instead of a main character with a few supporting characters, there is an ensemble cast of six vocalists and five instrumentalists. The beautifully interwoven arrangements presented Denver's music in ways I never would have considered. With so many wonderful arrangements it is difficult to know where to start. Jeff Waxman's arrangements include a complex medley of Annie's Song and Leaving on a Jet Plane woven to show the simple beauty of the love between John and Ann as well as the complex times of conflict and termoil. The medly, as do the other songs, succeeds in sharing the beauty and harmony as well as the variety and complexity of the music and the man who created the music that has touched so many.

Darryl Worley - Have You Forgotten?

The Darryl Worley song Have You Forgotten? should be renamed. I'd go for "I wish I could forget," not about the tragic events of September 11, 2001. To equate those tragic events to a war on a country whose wrongs have not yet been proven and the further killing of innocent civilians is disgraceful. Mr. Worley makes a common mistake in believing that people who are against our current war don't want to take action. It is not so. It would not be so bad if one could get into the car and take a short trip without hearing this ill-guided political statement passing for a song.

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