Or the things you do before you’re leaving Las Vegas.
The funny thing is, for such a short trip it’s felt like a really long trip. Yesterday was spent doing a lot of listening and a lot of learning about what I’m about to accomplish to raise the capital I need to bring my own music to where I want it to be. It’s daunting.
At some point a full book could be written.
Last night was fun though, I got to hang out with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. They were playing a little poker tourney, which ended around the time I finally made it over there. So they started up another. It’s the first time I played in a tourney where they changed the kind of poker game they play based on the whim of the dealer. Personally I think it’s bizarre to do that. However, not my house, not my rules.
What I learned from that is that you can never expect poker players that have an inkling of the game to understand what’s truly happening in a hand. They will always overvalue what they hold and that can sometimes make it really difficult to tell what they’re playing. Early on I was picking off players pretty easily. Then came a hand where I made a raise and one of my friends stayed it. I ended up with a full house and he ended up with four of a kind. Unfortunately I never saw it coming because it was the most unreasonable hand for him to call with my raise, in the position he was in.
The hand that took me out ended up being an Omaha hand. I’ll admit I don’t know much about it. But I figured that with pocket aces, and two other face cards, plus a royal flush possibility – it was a wise idea to go all in as the short stack. One other player called as there were four of us left. The other player called with an assortment of cards with the high card a queen. Off the flop I had to pair A’s and 3’s. He had 3’s and 7’s. The turn came a 7, and it was all over from there as he hit a full house with just a 7 in his hand. Nothing like having the dominating hand going in and losing to blind luck.
There’s nothing you can prove in a situation like that. Players that don’t know enough, think they made the right move – despite playing against the math. Oh well. Which brings me to my choice today. Caroline’s Spine is one of those bands that had everything going for them and then the rocket boosters gave out. They never quite made it out of orbit. It’s unfortunate because they are good guys.
The whole album rocks hard. But this song takes the cakes for being a cool power type ballad. If I’m not mistaken, I think there’s even an interesting guitar thing in the song. I think I remember watching them at the House of Blues once where Jimmy started the song with a capo on his guitar for a certain riff, then moved it several frets elsewhere on the neck in the middle of the song. Hmmm… Thinking of that right now, I believe I’ll have to concoct another song for my stockpile. One where I’ll change the fret of the capo in the middle of the song. It’s an interesting idea that I’ll have to play with.
Anyway, I’m off to one last meeting before I head back to Los Angeles. Enjoy your day. Go out and prove something to yourself. Can you impress yourself?
(** Disclaimer: If Spine’s label decides they have to prove something to me, I’ll have to move the audio off the server. The post will remain to prove I’m still doing this. **)