I took a lot of panorama shots. They look kinda scrawny in the blog, but don't let that bother you. Click on them to see them in their full glory.
First stop was Denny's in scenic Baker, California... Richie ordered a stack of hotcakes as big as his head. We discovered that every offramp in the Mojave Desert has its own Denny's... one after another... mile after mile... like an endless "Twilight Zone" of sagebrush and hash brown potatoes.
We took a quick side trip to the world's largest thermometer in Baker. It doesn't look as good as this postcard picture any more. Now it's billed as "the world's tallest mini-mall". Very sad.
We arrived in the chaos of Primm, and found it to be exactly as we left it a couple of weeks ago. Richie and Jeremy gambled away their pocket change while I sat and sipped a Diet Pepsi and people watched. Finally, it was time to see George...
Well, there was bad news and good news... The bad news was that ol' George had a sore throat and was pretty hoarse. The good news was that no one can call him "No Show Jones" any more. He took the stage and proceded to give us all a great time anyway.
George's band was great... Especially Brittany Allyn, who took the Tammy Wynette parts throughout the evening. She did a great solo version of "Blue Eyes".
George Jones is a first class performer. Although it was clear that he was struggling with his voice, he didn't let it slow him down. He gave us a full two hour set of songs from his entire fifty year career in music. He gave each of his band members a chance to shine, and the fiddle breakdowns in particular were real crowd pleasers.
To heck with Merle Haggard and his blah forty minute set... Ol' George really delivered the goods.
Thanks for the great show, George! I'll come out and see you any time you're in the area.
In case you aren't familiar with him, George Jones is one of the living legends of country music. Here are a couple of pictures of him, then and in more recent times...
Here's a video clip of George blowing the lid off the Grand Ol Opry...
