Sloppy's Journal: OKC

I arrived pretty late in OKC and it wasn't until about 11:50 that I was able to go look for some fun. (BTW, aside: western OK is gorgeous. Right near the eastern edge of the Texas panhandle, the terrain stops looking like the brown deserty New Mexican terrain that I'm used to seeing all the time, and it turns GREEN. And then in OK the dirt turns red, so it's red'n'green. I liked seeing that, until it got dark.)

In Albuquerque, the "happening place" on a Saturday night is downtown, near where the relatively tall buildings are. That's where there's a bunch of bars and people.

OKC's equivalent appears to be a place called bricktown, which is a little east of the tall buildings. So that threw me a bit. But no matter -- I found it.

It was kinda depressing. The hip hop infection here is severe. I wandered around, finding music I didn't like. But Jager shot 'n' Corona tastes the same everywhere, so that was ok. The only thing I liked was a street performer who was playing Black Sabbath riffs on his guitar.

Oh, then I found some kinda jazzy stuff that was ok, but I think it was after 1 and they wouldn't let me in. I swear the bouncer guy said something like, "we're not taking money anymore" but maybe I misheard him. A literal truth, though. They woulda had my money if they let me in. So I wandered off.

Then I stuck gold! I had given up on bricktown and was staggering back to the Westin, when I heard distant drums. "What's that?" I thought. I couldn't figure much out, at the distance,. Hey, did I mention this is a windy place? My hair was blowin' all around, and distant sounds come and go.

I followed the sound, and then discovered it was rockin' blues! Awesome! Just the second best type of music after heavy metal. The band's name is "Danger [somethin', I don't remember] and the Danger Zone." Maybe Danger Dan? The problem with bein' drunk (I started drinking Jack at this place, whatever it was called) is that it's hard to remember stuff. But I remember this, because I repeated it to myself over and over as a I staggered back: I talked to the lead guy and he says they're playing tomorrow at 4 at a place called Galileos. Galileo, you know, the gravity solar-centric heretic guy. I am so there! It's at .. um .. Paseo near 29th street. Good thing I'm typing this down, that way I can look it up tomorrow. What, you thought this JE was for the sake of your sorry ass? I don't think so...

another

[Sloppy]

The Debian guy that I just met for a fingerprint exchange, recommended a blues bar at, he thinks, 10th and Penn. So maybe I'll head over there when it gets late. (Thanks, Mike!)

Re:another

[gryphokk]

That would be Danny's Blues Saloon, and yes that's about 1/4 mile west of Penn on 10th, not far from downtown.

A happenin' spot, especially Sunday nights.

I expect you'll see a guitarist named Jackie Haney, he's a former bandmate of mine.

Enjoy!

Re:another

[Sloppy]

Actually, I decided not to go. Instead, at 4:00, I went to Galileo and listened to 5 hours of blues by various members of "The Oklahoma Blues Society", including the band whose set I saw part of last night. When it ended 5 hours later, I was quite satisfied and also "all bluesed out" and didn't feel the need for more. Besides, I have another 500 mile drive tomorrow (OKC-STL), so staying out late like I did Saturday, probably isn't a good idea.

Musically, this was a great beginning for my trip. I had ho