- I attended annual mid-day MTSU Executives in Residence lunch. Got to hear Arthur Laffer speak. He has served as a professor of economics at multiple universities and has served in multiple White House economic roles - most notably as chief economist under President Reagan. Got to meet him after the lunch.
- At the same lunch, Charlie Daniels received the Ambassador Joe Rogers Spirit of America award. About 26 years ago, I met Charlie Daniels when I was a college freshman at Tennessee Tech University. He & Hank Williams Jr. toured together. I got to help with show set-up and tear-down. Hank had his share of Jim Beam that night & went beyond his allotted time as the opener. Because Charlie got started late as the headliner, the show ended much, much later than scheduled. We stayed to the end, loaded the trailers as expected, and got to meet Charlie. He thanked us for sticking around and helping. He then asked us how much we were paid. When we said "zero, we're just volunteering", his jaw dropped, he walked away, and then returned with free t-shirts for all of us. Pretty cool to meet him 26 years later in a suit & tie - absent the CDB t-shirt. I reminded them of that show & he smiled wryly and acknowledge "aw yeah, I remember that one."
- I received a CD of a 1974 Miles Davis show from Carnegie Hall in NYC in the mail. I immediately dropped it in my truck's CD player as I headed to Wal-Mart after the lunch. Which one of these doesn't belong? Truck, Wal-Mart, Miles Davis?
- At Wal-Mart, I bought 30 bags of mulch. Got 2/3 of it spread this evening and also prepared a bed to put out several hosta plants Thursday.
- While working, I grooved to Tom Freund and Tommy Emmanuel on my iPod. If I had taken the extra time to transfer my new Miles Davis CD, I would have listened to him too.
- As a desk jockey, I'm way out of shape with manual labor. The mulch and bed prep about whipped me. I showered and decided I desperately wanted a large, cold margarita. So off to my favorite Mexican restaurant - Garcia's - for one and an evening meal. The normal family routine is to hit Garcia's on Friday night. The food is great and the service is even better. The trade-off is you don't get to visit much with the servers. Tonight, things were a bit slower. My favorite waiter, Pancho, was able to sit down a few minutes and share what is was like coming from Mexico to the U.S., share his excitement as a new, first-time dad, wrestle with his hopes for his son who has dual citizenship as an American and a Mexican, and introduce me to his native language - Chatino (not Spanish) - a language/dialect spoken by only a few thousands of Mexican people.
Well, since I artist-dropped I might as well share a few tunes...
Tom Freund - Sweet Affection
Tom Freund - North American Long Weekend
Tommy Emmanuel - Beatles Medley
The late, great Miles Davis
TMC
So, you didn't buy a new truck on your vacation?
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