It is going to be difficult to top the wild excitement of visiting Immokalee y’day. Wallace wanted to see the Seminole Hard Rock Café. Since the place was designed as a casino from the ground up, it is a better deal than the converted dog and horse tracks. We did a walking tour of the gambling area and stopped for a drink. I am still at a loss to figure out the amusement value of slot machines.
Yet, these gambling joints are the only place doing a booming business in this entire area. No other place has constant full parking lots and elbow-to-elbow crowds. I heard you could learn how to be a blackjack dealer from a TV show. Gee, then you could work for an outfit that has a pair of Elvis Presley’s torn trousers hanging on the wall.The sellout crowd means fancier everything and reasonable prices. This is also the only place around here that has a high ratio of good-looking women, although I take a dim view of families who take their children into such a place. No matter how classy, it is still a vice and should be sheltered as such. It sends the wrong message even if it is harmless to an extent.
Matt, the guitarist was here for practice. If he follows through, he will be fine for the job. He instantly grasped the idea of working as a duo and was clearly amused by how effective the correct mesh of techniques will sound. He had only ever heard one song on my list, “Act Naturally”. So using that as an anchor to demonstrate things, within two hours we had learned twelve songs. Compare this with the three months of “practice” required by most other groups.The pressing problem is that next weekend, Matt is leaving to New York for three weeks. He is highly motivated to learn everything on the CD I supplied. That puts us into June before any regular performances. (That still beats months of empty nothingness between gigs with my former guitarist.) Matt understands I will continue auditioning. Right now I’ve got a music teacher from Weston and that guy from Colorado lined up.
Wallace is getting an unwelcome treat of early hot weather, since summer has arrived early. I say it again, unless you love sweltering heat, do not visit Florida except in the dead of winter. That means November through March. The rest of the year there are no cool breezes and very little shade. Getting back to the casino, I point out that they are one of the few places who seem to have a perfect air-conditioning system. Most places crank it up too cold, or as we say in California, “comfortable for the staff”.
Today’s trivia. Did you know that electric razors buzz in different keys? American razors emit a B-flat while Euro models play in G. Or is it the other way around? Check that out for me the next time you are playing your tenor sax in the john.
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