Ken and I went to see Better Than Ezra in Tulsa. Yep, we flew to Tulsa for one night just to see my favorite band. At a casino, none the less, with cheap tickets. It was a marvelous show. The band played really well, made lots of jokes with the crowd and seemed to honestly have a good time. The other part I liked was that it finished by 10:00, so my bedtime didn't get screwed up too much -- ha.
Kevin Grifin, the lead singer, has an incredibly expressive voice and not only did he sing the songs I love, he played around a little with silly stuff, like imitating Rush. It was kind of like being in on a practice gig, with the guys just goofing around, but with an awesome sound system. They even made a big cowbell joke with their new drummer. I need more cowbell.
They did one of their biggest hits for the last song - In the Blood. It was a great way to go out. They only played 3 songs off their newest album, and to be honest I wanted to hear more. They told the crowd that they'll start recording a new one in November, which will be excellent since it's been 2 years now.
And Tulsa was interesting. We looked up a Lebanese restaurant online and found something called Eddy's Steakhouse. It was the oddest little place. A tiny, dirty, old windowless dark room. We knew something was up when we saw it - just a really old sign that said "Eddy's". Nothing else. The door to go in was around the side, unmarked and a little confusing. There's a guy sitting right beside it as you go in - like an usher - and it's so incredibly dark, he needed to guide us to the table. So the menu is quite simple - every entree (which aren't Lebanese), comes with an array of Lebanese appetizers. Tabbouleh, hummus, salad, and cabbage rolls. Which was all tasty, in fact their version of tabbouleh gave me ideas on how to improve mine. But the entrees were really so-so. I think the steaks would've been good, but we ordered fish.
We stayed in this old hotel, the Mayo. Art Deco, very beautiful. And deserted. Downtown Tulsa on the weekends is very quiet. Sunday morning, we went to the Philbrook museum. It was a gorgeous mansion built by the Phillips oil company family. Breathtaking grounds and quite a variety of art to look at. They have a Rauschenberg exhibit, native American works, photographs and even impressionists. It made for a nice afternoon.
And here's something way cool....we're flying up there, on Southwest of course, and I notice the guys in the seats in front of me are too cool for school, or at least for air travel. They are wearing their shades on the plane. I take a closer look and OMG....it's THEM! It's the band! Tom, the bassist was sitting directly in front of me. I was too shy to say anything, but luckily my husband wasn't. Ken leans up to them and says "Hey, does BTE mean something to you guys?". They laugh & say yeah, we tell them we're coming in just for the concert & it's a little Hallmark moment. Tom gives us an inside tip when we say we're from Austin -- they just signed on to play at Austin City Limits in September. Man, I sure hope it's on Sunday since that's the day we have tickets. So I just have to say this -- even rock stars fly on Southwest (if you've read my blog in the past, you know I love Southwest).
