Publisher’s Perspective

On the Road Again: Part Deux

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On the Road Again!

Or should I say, I’m about to get back On the Road Again.

Let me explain. Because of the short Thanksgiving week and early deadlines, we have to comply with in order to get the Thanksgiving Edition out in the mail stream on Wednesday, Nov. 27, I am writing this week’s column on Thursday, Nov. 21.

While the deadlines may be early, my enthusiasm for the coming eight days encompassing Tuesday, the 26th to next Wednesday evening, Dec. 4, is hard to contain.

On Tuesday night, my second personal On the Road Again road tour takes me to San Antonio. We are going to the awesome Majestic Theater to see Willie Nelson perform his last Texas concert of the year. At his age, it might be his last one ever. I saw Willie in Las Vegas two months ago, and I can’t wait to see him again after devouring his last album, Ride Me Back Home.

This time, however, Miss Kasey and I will have company. We were visiting at her brother Noel’s house one night after a Shiner St. Paul football game and Kasey started playing Willie’s latest album on her phone. Everyone was blown away. A few minutes later, Noel and his wife Kerri said they wanted to go, and we immediately seconded that motion. After a few minutes of Googling, Noel announced they had tickets to the Majestic, had a hotel room at the same place we were staying, and now it was going to be a night on the River Walk. God, how I love Texas!

That is concert number one. The second stop on the itinerary of the second On the Road Again Tour is Saturday night, Nov. 30 at Gruene Hall. My buddy Phillip Moore turned me on to this one at trivia, informing me that Cody Canada and the Departed were playing Gruene and tickets were just $20! In a millisecond I said I was in, and now it’s off to Gruene for a night of fun, music and playing in Texas’ oldest dance hall—not to mention some pre-partying via UBER on the square in New Braunfels. Phillip and his buddy Bret Tillery (who went to the Cody Jinks show in Corpus Christi) are on this leg of the tour. God, how I love Texas.

The final leg of the On the Road Again tour hits the calendar on Wednesday night, Dec. 4. The legendary Wynonna Judd is bringing her Christmas show to Gruene Hall, and Kasey and I snapped up tickets for this baby months ago. I love Christmas—especially the spirit of happiness it brings to everybody at this time of year. After Thanksgiving, I will be singing Christmas carols at the office—much to the extreme annoyance and audio suffering of Jose, Sanya, Susie and Garrett. Ho! Ho! Ho! God, how I love Texas and Christmas!

But forgive if I gloat about this being the second eight-day On the Road Again music tour I have taken in two months since I moved to Texas a few years ago. The first tour was Cody Jinks (it was the day he found out he had the number one Country Western album in the world) in Corpus, then Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffet on consecutive nights in Las Vegas. I was proud of that one, immediately realizing I would not have done that before if I had not moved to Texas. I didn’t expect to do a second tour, so this one has got me really jazzed. While Jinks, Nelson and Buffet may have a little more cachet than Nelson, Canada and Judd; I don’t know. Now that I think about, heck, it’s really close. Have I said: God, I how I love Texas!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that on Saturday night, Nov. 30, we may have a couple of additional guests at the Cody Canada concert. A few weeks ago, I received a surprise Instant Messenger note from a gal I went to junior high and high school with. She informed me that her and her husband had just moved to Texas from Michigan. She saw my post on Facebook about going to the Cody Canada show and asked if it would be all right if her and her husband joined us. I asked her where she had moved to in Texas and she laughed and said, “New Braunfels!”

Then we both laughed, agreed to meet before the concert, and we’ll have a full night of music, laughter (at my expense I am sure) and great memories.

So it was with great enthusiasm and excitement that I head into the holidays this season, and I can’t wait for the second On the Road Again Tour. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t take this time to wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving for you and yours. I want to thank you for all the kind words and things you have done for and said to me, this newspaper, and this community over the past two years. This town has touched my heart, and I want to thank all of you.

After all, God! How I love Texas!

Happy Thanksgiving.

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