Musician’s Widow

It snowed this week. So of course I had to have Sam Adams Summer Ale last night to pretend it wasn’t still stupid cold outside.

Let’s just get this over with… I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it. It was pretty middle of the road to me.

I’m a total wheat beer girl. My top three beers are pretty much Shocktop, Blue Moon and Hoegaarden. So there you go. Sam Adam’s Summer Ale doesn’t quite reach those for me. Perhaps if I’d had a lemon wedge with it? I don’t know.

From Sam Adam’s site:

Crisp and tangy with refreshing lemon peel and a hint of pepper from rare Grains of Paradise. Golden, hazy, & thirst quenching, this American wheat ale balances bright citrus, Noble hops & spice for a lively brew that’s perfect on any summer day.

Its definitely a summer brew with strong citrus flavor, but its also (to me) a lot hoppier than its other wheat offerings. I think that’s where I jumped off the bandwagon. Some people love that, and I totally respect that fact!! Its just not my thing… so I’ll probably shy away from it going forward. But I’m glad I gave it a shot!!

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Ah music. A huge part of my daily life. As a musician’s widow, it pays our bills and dictates huge chunks of our time and focus.

Music is important to everyone really. I remember seeing once that it was the top interest of Facebook users. And it’s a topic people quickly get passionate about…

And living in “Music City?” That passion is tenfold of anywhere else (except maybe Austin). There’s a funny thing about that passion… it makes you a little narrow minded. I’ve been guilty of it myself! (Example: I’ve never, ever, ever bought a Taylor Swift album, and I never, ever, ever will.)

Even in being guilty of it myself, I still find myself shaking my mental fist at people who refuse to even acknowledge that anything outside of their comfort zone could be good music.

Look, we wouldn’t have as many genres of music if there weren’t people out there to like them. And interestingly enough many of the genres actually sample from one another, making music today one big melting pot.

Ever since I moved to Nashville, I’ve felt a deep frustration and, frankly, disgust at Texas Music fans’ elitist attitudes. “It’s better than the crap coming out of Nashville!” say fans who fail to read the liner notes to learn how many Texas artists record in Nashville. Fans who have also never set foot in Music City and have no concept of how wildly diverse the music scene is here.

Similarly, I don’t understand rockers and rappers turning up their nose at country music – failing to realize how many of the people who blazed the trail ahead of them had ties to country music years ago.

But… I can’t just point fingers and people who snub Nashville. Nashville has its snobby side, too. One I find myself swept up in at times as well. I, personally, DO think the 90s were the best decade of country music (and I wish it would come back!), but we got there by going through the 70s and 80s and having the music evolve. God forbid a country artist have cross-over appeal or they are “selling out” even as we forget how Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Exile, Elvis, etc. all had huge cross-over success.

The latest “controversy” in music in Nashville is the slow influx of “Southern Rap” into mainstream music. I pushed hard against it for awhile myself until I started rethinking my stance.

We’ve embraced an island sound. Jimmy Buffet has been embraced with open arms into the country music realm. But we snub turning a little into rap. It’s an interesting case of, “Oh that’s okay, but that’s not.” When at the end of the day, each direction is just pushing the envelope a little more and more.

A friend recently said, “Why can’t we just put out music without having to conform to these rigorous cookie-cutter ideals?”

It’s a good question.

I like Kid Rock. I like Merle Haggard. I turn into a giddy kid going to a Glenn Miller Orchestra show. I wore out a Beastie Boys tape in high school. I think P!nk is amazing and that Miranda Lambert is the country outlaw we’ve needed. I miss Cross Canadian Ragweed, but I still adore Eli Young Band. And The Eagles are just greatness. I love all these genres and all these artists.

So I’m not a Bieber fan, and Taylor Swift is a great entertainer but I am not a fan of her music. I have a hard time getting behind Brantley Gilbert’s style of country, but I do enjoy (most of) Jason Aldean’s forays into the rockin’ side. I’ve never gotten into Jay-Z, and Korn just kinda scares me. But maybe you reading this love them all! AND THAT’S OKAY!

Music is what moves you.

Relax… stop trying to put an artist or a song in a category and letting that category alone determines if its good or not… I just fear that we’ve become so stagnate on what is right and what is wrong that we’ve ceased letting ourselves (and others) just enjoy the music.

Yesterday, I had a music station playing on our cable TV. I was putting groceries away, singing along much to the cats’ dismay. Then it happened.

A song that was huge for the artist my now-husband was working for when we met came on… and it stopped me in my tracks. It was like being hit by a fright train of memories. In a very good way!!

Memories of shows. Memories of old conversations. Memories of dinners and laughter. I remember having a bad day, and I was riding in a vehicle with my best friend. She threw the artist’s CD on knowing it would cheer me up. Memories of meeting people that I consider dear friends today…

I tweeted about it and the following conversation ensued:

Oh I’m not saying those days were all roses. LOL! There were definitely plenty of bumps along the way for ALL of us. But somehow as time as passed, the bumps have faded and the good memories still shine.

It knocked me off my feet, but I am glad that song reminded me for awhile of the past. Reminded me to be thankful for the twists and turns of life that put me right where I am today with the people… or to steal a the term from a friend… the angels around me today.

1. My love for Southwest Airlines was deepened last night when our pilot not only made up the 15 minute delay, but got us there five minutes early for our original arrival. Yes, folks, we made my 20 minutes in the air. (Which means that flight was the length it used to be for years. Flights from Austin to Nashville were 1.5 hours for years, then suddenly started taking 2 hours. No idea why, but I’d love to see it go back to the quicker route.)

2. All the blogs I follow are singing the praises of Feedly with the pending demise of Google Reader. I’ve been using Feedly exclusively for blog reading since Google killed iGoogle. I’ve loved it for months now, and its fun to see others jumping on the bandwagon.

3. I found this t-shirt at the airport in Austin and fell in love with it. However, they didn’t have any in my size. I’ve only been able to find similar shirts online, but not THIS one. Anyone have any ideas?

4. It’s Palm Sunday this weekend, and its kind of one of my favorite weekends in the church. Maybe if I write it here, it’ll happen. I want to go to mass Sunday morning. After working all night Saturday. That’s usually a daunting idea, but I’m going to try. Wish me luck.

5. Blog lovin! I’ve spent a lot of the last week looking for new blogs to read. All of these have big followings already, and you might look at me like, “Where the heck have you been!?” But just in case anyone else is missing out… here are three of my new favorites:

• Drinking in America
• Love from Texas
• Academic Men Explain Things to Me

6. I work tonight… and I’m still kinda hating people from the last time I worked two weeks ago. Here’s hoping its a good night with nice people!!

I’m flying home to Nashville for the weekend. Actually, I’m sitting at my gate in Austin… glaring at the board that I now have a 15 minute delay.

I can’t have delays today. It’s one of those flights that make my husband and I shake our heads at our life.

See, I land in time to have a quick dinner with him before taking him to the bus for the weekend. So I get home in time for him to leave.

We do that sometimes.

The most extreme case was when he parked our truck in short term and we met at the airport in time for him to give me a kiss and tell me where to find it. He flew out as I drove home.

That’s our life!

Go. Go. Go.

And I wouldn’t trade it.

A few months back, the owner of the bar I work at gave me a tank top that she got from her liquor rep. Hot pink, it said, “Kinky Liqueur” on the front and “Let’s get Kinky tonight” on the back. For my own amusement, it became my motorcycle tank. (Hey, it was hot pink and impossible to miss!”)

Then she came in with a little mini-bottle of the liqueur and we sampled it. I liked it! Light and fruity. I wanted to try it again.

Last week, I finally picked up a bottle of the goodness at the liquor store:

Admit it. That’s a sexy bottle. They hit that out of the park, right along with the name. And the pink color just screams, “Ladies night!” to me.

Kinky Liqueur is a infusion of premium vodka distilled 5 times with mango, blood orange liqueur, and passion fruit. It’s only 34 Proof, so you’re not going to get sideways super fast on it, but the yummy taste will let you forget your drinking an adult beverage. Which could negate that whole, “not too high of a proof so don’t worry” thing.

I had my first glass of it just on the rocks. Its smooth enough to do just that… I am not an “on the rocks” girl, but this one I can do.

That being said, I poured a TALL glass of it and I ran into that, “Oh this isn’t too strong let me drink this really fast and whoa the room is kinda tilted right now.” thing. So since then, I’ve been enjoying it mixed with “lemon lime soda” (oh okay, Sprite) and its super delicious that way and a lot less potent.

Kinky Liqueur has a Pinterest board for nothing but Kinky Drinks that I’ve already started following. I’m pretty addicted still to coconut rum, so I can’t wait to try the Kinky Breeze sometime.

It’s girlie. It’s not super strong. But its super fruity and will be a great summer drink… ahhh… summer… bring it on.

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