Old Country Came to Town

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to play host to a couple of visitors from my hometown. I picked them up at the airport and dropped them at Yankee Stadium for an afternoon game. Then, I met them in East Midtown for an early supper and some site-seeing following that. My visitors are a father/son duo. The dad was the ag teacher (and FFA Sponsor) at my high school, and his son is a former schoolmate of mine who is one year younger than I. A good time was had by all.

Their visit inspired me to get an airplane ticket and go home to Kentucky this weekend because my mother was planning a big cook-out for Saturday afternoon. Alas, when I got my email with the flight itinerary on Thursday afternoon, I had plugged in the wrong weekend. I am actually going to miss the big cook-out because I didn't make it this weekend. I'm going next weekend. Silly me!

The silver lining, however, will be my chance to travel through Nashville, TN's, delightful airport. I say delightful because they recently installed an outpost of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. In spite of the fact that the name conjures up images of a Thai whorehouse, it actually is a famous institution in Nashville: a honky-tonk. When the Grand Ole Opry began in downtown Nashville, Tootsie's back door aligned perfectly with the stage door of the Opry. Thus, country music stars who drank would often sneak out of one spot and sneak into the other. These days, Tootsie's is famous for just being famous. Up-and-coming singers and songwriters grace the "stage" which is actually no bigger than many bathroom stalls. (I have played on that stage!)

The last time I traveled through Nashville, just over a month ago, I planted myself on a stool at Tootsie's in the Nashville airport and enjoyed the music of a couple of fellas paying their dues. I can't remember really what they sang. But one fella was well worth looking at! (I took a few pictures of him, but they didn't turn out good enough to post--especially after my red-eye reduction effort was a disaster.)

And, the picture at the top actually is a photo of a photo, of Tootsie, the name behind the institution.