Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Musical interlude
Went and saw country music legend Merle Haggard play at the DECC last night.
Combined with the Strangers, his seven piece band of gray-hairs, there must have been at least half a millennium's worth of the Bakersfield CA sound incarnate strolling across the stage. Haggard hit some old favourites, including the one that got him a pardon from Governer Reagan in the seventies - the anti-hippy song Okie from Muskogee , as well as The Bottle Let Me Down , the autobiographical Mama Tried , and the poetic ode to grumpiness, Are the Good Times Really Over , which induced Merlegasms in many members of the largely middle aged audience.
Despite the energy of the raucous crowd, Merle petered out relatively gracefully after 80 minutes. There was only the one police intervention.
Went and saw country music legend Merle Haggard play at the DECC last night.
Combined with the Strangers, his seven piece band of gray-hairs, there must have been at least half a millennium's worth of the Bakersfield CA sound incarnate strolling across the stage. Haggard hit some old favourites, including the one that got him a pardon from Governer Reagan in the seventies - the anti-hippy song Okie from Muskogee , as well as The Bottle Let Me Down , the autobiographical Mama Tried , and the poetic ode to grumpiness, Are the Good Times Really Over , which induced Merlegasms in many members of the largely middle aged audience.
Despite the energy of the raucous crowd, Merle petered out relatively gracefully after 80 minutes. There was only the one police intervention.
And thus I am introduced to country music.
