The Dark Knight, Willie, and BB all fail to make the grade,
American Aquarium Saves the Day
Okay, maybe I don't deserve a day off. Maybe my group of friends, mainly in their twenties and thirties do, but I don't. After all, they didn't challenge themselves to 6 nights straight of live music. Why, only a fool would do that. But why not just go check out the new Batman movie - relax a little - I mean, who really cares one way or another about your self-imposed challenge.
My sister calls Friday afternoon and says she will be in town tonight with her 10 year old grandson Jack. "Think of something fun to do," she says. "Does he like to go to bars and listen to live music?" I ask, tongue in cheek, but the humor fails to blip her radar. I get the bright idea that we should go to the new Cinema 9 and check out The Dark Knight, and I am able to get everyone tickets to the non-IMAX 7:00 show. I scurry home from work actually looking forward to doing something a little different tonight. Maybe I'll check out some music later on, but no need to pressure myself.
I'm sorry, folks, but to me the movie is a bit dull (except for Heath Ledger), and perhaps I feel this way because I'm struggling with sleep deprivation during the 2½ hour ordeal. Mercifully, the flick finally comes to a close. I could just call it a night and go to bed, but I get a TM from "T" who tells me he's heading to White Water, meet him down there. "What happened to Willie Nelson and BB King?" I ask. "That concert sucked," and I think to myself, "I could have told you that on the front end and saved you $35." But I bite my tongue; later he tells me he should have warned me not to go to The Dark Knight, that he could have saved me $8. So I reply that he still owes me $27, but his puzzled expression indicated his radar screen was also on the fritz.
Now - the reason for the column - I arrive at White Water Tavern in time Friday night to hear 4 or 5 songs from performer #2 of 3, Mat Mahar. The Conway native and thirty year-old entertainer, whom I had not heard before, performed very ably, but you could sense the anticipation for tonight's headliner, American Aquarium.
As AA took the stage, lead singer BJ Barham, in reference to the three times they have played the WWT in the past few months, intros his group by saying that they might be from Raleigh, NC, but they feel even more at home in Little Rock, AR. While there's a lot to be said about this Lucero-laced alt-country southern rock band, time and space (well, time at least - and lack of sleep) prohibit me from doing it tonight. Just suffice it to say that we're glad you guys are here, BJ; feel free to come back home any time.
RSS Feed