Willie Nelson: Live in Europe

Monday night I finally, finally was able to watch Willie Nelson perform. I wouldn’t have imagined that Dundee, Scotland would be the place where I would finally see the man, but life is unpredictable.

I couldn’t have asked for much more from Willie’s set, and his voice was fantastic, much better than you might imagine from the last few albums. He played a great mix of songs from the latest album, Country Music, and the catalogue. Yesterday’s Wine, I Never Cared For You, Rainy Day Blues, and Pistol Packin’ Mama were all very well done, and after having seen the video of him and Snoop Dogg sing together, I got an especially big kick out of hearing Superman performed live. Nobody’s Fault But Mine was also especially good, and it was a treat to hear some songs from The Troublemaker.

He also surprised us with some of my favorites that I never would have imagined hearing in concert, like Sad Songs and Waltzes and We Don’t Run (complete with a bit of Spirit-inspired guitar work).

Willie also did a couple of Hank Williams numbers, including Hey Good Lookin’, which I will forever associate with going square dancing in Buckley with my Mom when I was 10 or 11.

Bobbie played Down Yonder from Red Headed Stranger, which failed to animate the crowd, which on Willie’s website was charitably describe as “reserved”. Really, the crowd was geriatric and generally seemed happy to devote its remaining energy to keeping the involuntary nervous system going. There was no clapping, toe tapping, or singing. I drove the people around me nuts. I was lucky to be sitting next to a deaf woman (there with her husband, who I assume could hear), or I would have bothered even more people.

I’m not sure what the crowd was expecting, or how well they know his work, but they sure didn’t respond to much. The gospel songs (Will the Circle be Unbroken, I’ll Fly Away) stirred no reaction in the audience. I would guess that they know him for Stardust and Rainbow Connection; Still Is Still Moving To Me got a (deserved) nice hand.

The show ran approximately 100 minutes and was absolutely fantastic. He plays again tomorrow in Edinburgh, and I’ve got half a mind to go.

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1. Out The Window

My view of Fife Park.

I’m lucky to have an enormous window in my flat. Now that the weather has warmed up (into the 50′s!), I try to keep it open as much as possible. The desk is under the window, and though I can’t smell the sea, there are birds to listen to and it’s usually quiet enough to hear the church clock chime the hour.

Outside the window is a tree that bees love. Since I’ve no screen, a bumblebee comes into my room every fifteen minutes or so. They spend a minute slamming against the window before figuring out how to leave.

Flies are different. When they come in, they do several laps of the room then scream back out the open window.

The wasps I kill, ruthlessly and without remorse.

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1. Evergreen Transit Hotel, Taoyuan Airport, Taiwan

I found out last week that I’ve been accepted to read for a Masters at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

I applied to St Andrews because its program is so unique – you spend the first semester studying at the Beijing Foreign Studies University (北京外国语大学 – I wonder why it’s not called the Beijing University of Foreign Languages or something like that), and the following semester and summer in Scotland studying and writing a dissertation.

It’s exciting: Sept.–Jan. in China, then Feb.–Aug. in Scotland. I feel pretty lucky and, since I only applied to two graduate programs, am greatly relieved that one of them took me. I suppose the whole thing might have been less stressful had I applied to more schools, but I didn’t want to apply to any school that I wasn’t passionate about studying at. (I learned a lesson from undergrad.)