There is a popular Reddit thread called “Am I the A-Hole?” There, people bring up various situations from their everyday lives and ask if they reacted properly in a given circumstance or if they were in fact, a-holes.
Recently, Garth Brooks announced that he was opening a bar in Nashville called Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk. Garth’s watering hole will sell, among other beers, Bud Light. Regarding this choice, Brooks said:
“I want it to be a place you feel safe in,” he said. “I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another. And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this: if you [are let] into this house, love one another.”
“If you’re an a##hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”
So a-holes like you and me who don’t particularly care what adults do to themselves but don’t want to see the minds and bodies of children irrevocably damaged for what amounts to a fad are not welcome at Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk. Got it, you narcissist. I think you’ve gone pretty low yourself, Garth. You should be more careful when it comes to your friends.
Then, from the Too Little Too Late Department, Brooks later stated, “I understand that might not be other people’s opinions, but that’s OK, man … if you’re one of those people that just can’t do that, I get it. If you ever are one of those people that want to try, come.”
Where Brooks left the road was not in his decision to sell Bud Light. The man can sell whatever he wants. Where he blew it was when he called those who won’t drink Bud Light a-holes. As someone who grew up with a father whose mother tried to “trans” him and who lived with the sexual abuse and the child porn, the familial dysfunction, and the misery that came from that, go to hell, Brooks. Go to hell and stay there, you a-hole. Yes, I know. You’re too rich and too famous to stand up to the likes of me. You’re also too cowardly. You’re also too cowardly to stand up to everyone who used to buy your music.
My first job in Utah was as an apprentice saddlemaker. I also helped a guy run cows at an outfit up in the mountains. I even bucked out a couple of bulls in my day. So I used to be a country music fan until the early 2000s; then I gave up. I liked Brooks’ music back then. Songs like “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” “Rodeo,” and “Wild Horses,” were all favorites of mine. Brooks and I even shared a love for Chris LeDoux, an honest-to-God cowboy who wrote great songs. But to be honest, give me Hank and Hank Jr., Charley Pride, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. Give me Johnny Cash. For that matter, give me David Allan Coe, whose epic “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” may not just be the greatest country-western song of all time, but possibly the greatest song of all time. Brooks couldn’t hold a candle to those men.
I used to work with a guy who was on Brooks’ road crew when he was up-and-coming. This guy told me that the crew used to take Brooks out for a few after each show. That was until the brass essentially said, “We have a lot of money invested in Garth. Knock it off.” So some of this may not be Brooks’ fault. To steal a phrase from Obi-Wan Kenobi, he’s more product now than man.
But he’s still an a-hole.
Wine Recommendation: Because Garth Brooks can buy his own damn booze.
This week, I went to the Land Down Under and chose a Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia. Introducing the 2017 Ring Bolt Cabernet Sauvignon.
One thing I can say about this wine is that is smooth. You won’t find many surprises in it, but it is a nice, even red that will probably deliver consistently with every bottle. It’s easy on the tannins and finishes well. You can taste cherries and even a touch of tobacco in it. It was obviously rounded well, and you may want to buy a few bottles to stash away for a steak or prime rib dinner later in the winter since it ages so easily. If you are ready to open a bottle right now, you should pair it up with some Cajun shrimp sautéed in a cast-iron skillet over an open flame. BTW: I’ve got a killer shrimp recipe that would match up perfectly with this wine. Send me a message and I’ll pass it along.
That’s it for me. Have a good weekend. If you haven’t done so yet, download “You Never Even Called Me By My Name.” You’ll thank me later. See you on Monday.
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