Willie Nelson at The Moon on Seminole Drive in Tallahassee
The day started a little slow - some yard work- a few chores around the house. At 3 - Lulu and I hopped on the scooter to the civic center- and enjoyed a great basketball game.
FSU Marching Chief Playing The War Chant
Maryland had come to town after just beating the league leading Duke team by 20 points. They were loaded for bear - really big - and it was a brawl. Our girls prevailed by 6 - and now are tied for the ACC lead with Duke.
After the game - we had supper guests - our good friends Josh and Melissa. Melissa is Lulu's counterpart. She is president of ALISE - Association of Library and Information Science Educators. Josh is a psychologist for FSU. After supper we walked up the street to The Moon - a local nightclub and juke joint - right on our street at the corner of Seminole and Lafayette.
As we arrived at The Moon - the parking lot was packed. We could see Willie Nelson's bus hidden behind a high fence with a guard posted there. We went inside - and there was not an empty seat in the house unless you count the stools roped off for Willie Fan Club members. The show was scheduled to begin soon - so we went SRO - standing room only. We nudged slowly toward the stage - and as the lights went down we settled in about 20 feet from the microphone.
Willie Nelson at The Moon - 2/21/11
To my surprise - the crowd was docile - unless you count the "Charlie Manson Like" character that was right in front of me pawing a few "Charlie's Angels" around him that were maybe 30 years younger. A couple budges to the ribs calmed him down a bit - and we settled in to enjoy a really neat show.
Willie played for 2 hours straight - barely stopping between songs that lasted anywhere from one to three minutes. Do you remember when songs were short like that - so that deejays could play them and fit lots of commercials in? Others say that you couldn't fit more than 2 minutes on a 78 RPM record. Who knows - but when holding up my camera to video Willie - it was nice being able to rest after 2 minutes.
Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys
Willie played all the hits. He had a very small band - piano (his sister) - drums (his borther) - base - harmonica. Willie did all the heavy picking to my surprise. No other guitars were visible.
Willie has probably made more money as a songwriter for such songs at "Crazy" by Patsy Cline - and "You Were Always on My Mind" by Elvis. Willie is 78 years old now - like the 78 RPM records - and had no trouble remembering the words. He also was very gracious throwing his headbands to the crowd after each song. He put on a dynamite show.
After a little research - I found out that Willie owns 3 million shares in a company called BioWillie. It is a company that makes a biodiesel fuel product that runs in a regular diesel engine without modification. Even though the stock is currently trading at 2 cents a share - it is something to hang his hat on.
FSU Girls Basketball Team Warmup to Beat Maryland - 2/21/11
It was all over by 10 - and Josh - Melissa - Lulu - and I walked back to our home. Watching Willie perform like that - at age 78 - made me feel good. I figured 2000 people paid $50 - $100,000 - to help Willie with his IRS problems. And at 63 - I was also pretty proud of myself standing in front of the stage for 3 hours after a few drinks - and not having to visit the bathroom.
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