Estoy Nueces

I'm a sleepy girl. I went to a taping of Austin City Limits last night and had a ball. That is something I've wanted to do for years but it is one of those things that is very difficult to do. You have to know when to be listening to the radio and be ready to jump and run to get the free tickets when they are offered, and I believe even then you aren't sure who you'll be seeing at the taping.

This week I got an e-mail from Waterloo Records with a contest to win tickets to the ACL taping. They do this frequently but I usually find the solicitation e-mail and the announcement of the winner e-mail at the same time. This time I happened to find the e-mail within an hour of it being sent. It asked the question, "How many Grammys does Asleep at the Wheel have?" I checked the Grammy web site and sent my answer of 8 and lo and behold I won two tickets! Really a surprise to me and so cool to get to see one of my favorite bands.

Mark had a gig so I couldn't take him but he had been to a taping years ago with Gary P. Nunn when he was sort of with the band. He wasn't playing with them on that trip but he was there with them. I took my friend that just moved here from Dallas and we had a great time. She's been trying to do "Austin-y" things so this fit into her agenda too.

Sara Evans was the opening act. She is a wonderful singer and very pretty but she doesn't have the star quality that Shania Twain and Faith Hill have. There are other country stars that make a good living without that star quality so I'm sure she'll continue to do quite well. Her opening act was enjoyable... except for the little girls singing along with every word behind us. Why do parents let their kids do that? Why do parents let their kids bother everyone? I hope they wouldn't bother me during Asleep at the Wheel, and they didn't sing, they just stomped their feet and bounced on my seat.

Asleep at the Wheel played for an hour and a half and had the crowd half crazed and dancing. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed seeing music with no smoke and no conversations going on around me. It was also nice that there was no stage manager with an applause sign.

The show ended late, I dropped Jill off late and got home late. Then I found the phone call from B! needing moral support. I called her back and found that she wasn't in Idaho, her home, she was in Salt Lake City at a motel ready to catch a flight to Amarillo this morning. Her mother had a fall and an "episode" and may be very near death. It seems unreal since I saw her a month ago and she was quite healthy. B! just needed to talk and some company since she was so far from home and unable to do anything. We talked even later into the night. I haven't heard anything today from her and she won't even get to Amarillo for three more hours. I hope her Mom is still alive for her for a while.

I finally got to bed with about three hours to go before getting up. Mark came in from his gig and crashed on the couch as to not disturb me but that usually leaves me awake wondering why he hasn't come to bed.

I made it through the morning show despite the heavy sleepiness coming over me. Kramer was at the studio next door so I got to see him and he gave me Texpresso coupons for this Sunday's journalers gettogether. He invited me to breakfast but I couldn't see past getting my work done and getting home and back to bed. I hope we can do it next time. Of course, I get home and, despite tiredness, I can't sleep so I'm up again for a while.

The morning gig gets better in some ways and worse in others. The team is mostly still being nice to me, they just ignore me, which is fine. Their show if mostly boring to me so it is a long four hours with little challenge now. I'm facing the same frustrations I had while unemployed---I wish I had a passion, something that I really really wanted to do or to be. Until I find that passion, I guess I'll stay frustrated.