Went to see the Charlie Daniels Band last night at the Taj Mahal Resort and Casino in Atlantic City. Walking through the resort portion of the facility on my way to the arena I heard the following from what I refer to as a carnival barker … you know, the people with a microphone who hawk stuff to the public. Well, apparently they were giving gifts away to people in attendance. The woman with the mic brought a man up by her, asked how his day was going. He must have lost money gambling because he said “not very good”. Her reply caught my attention. “Oh, well at least you’re having fun, right? Cuz that’s what it’s all about.” Obviously not for him. Her reply was curious though and indicative of much of society today. ‘Aw, you lost a thousand dollars tonight in the casino, too bad. But you had fun doing it, didn’t you? Yes, of course you had fun. Work with me here … cuz having fun in spite of your pain or loss or despair or embarrassment is all that matters, right?’ Wow. Sorry, don’t see the correlation between losing money and fun. The hedonists of the world, those seeking pleasure, rejoice at the whole concept of winning and losing and drinking and free stuff and just plain having fun. Their idea of ‘fun’ is grossly skewed and seems dictated by what others have defined as fun. Frankly, I have fed a twenty dollar bill into a machine in AC once or twice but have learned my lesson and learned it rather quickly. It’s not fun to watch your twenty dollars slowly dwindle down to nothing in the course of 5-10 minutes. Hmm, so this is fun. Never knew that. Gotta stop having so much fun.
The concert? It was great! Charlie is a Christian man who loves America and can still play a mean fiddle and guitar even at 76 years of age. Played all his big hits, did some jamming with the band, played Folsom Prison Blues in honor of the late Johnny Cash and sang a heartfelt rendition of How Great Thou Art. Played for about 90 minutes and the crowd left satisfied.
