In case you are still recovering from your turkey hangover and want to delay work for a few minutes longer, I thought I would share some ramblings from my holiday weekend.
While I was home in Wisconsin, a story caught my eye about how a business that sells a commodity not typically associated with Black Friday capitalized on the day. It didn’t even offer buyers a bargain price but managed to pack in people by the hundreds.
Lakefront Brewery offered a specialty beer starting at 8 a.m. Black Friday. According to WTMJ-TV, hundreds lined up well before the opening. Some arrived as early as 3 a.m. and waited hours in the 18-degree weather. The line extended several blocks by 6 a.m.
Would it have attracted half the crowd if the beer had been offered at the normal bar time? Probably not.
It was a brilliant piece of marketing to find a way to capitalize on the Black Friday craze without even having to discount their product. And, it was done without anyone getting zapped by a stun gun, Philadelphia.
On another note, my holiday weekend started the same way it began — with a seven-hour car concert. What is a car concert, you ask? It is designed for people who have horrible singing voices, but love to sing and also have at least seven hours to kill in a boring car ride. Singing in the car is my only chance to shine since I have a voice not even a mother could love. (It’s true – just ask her.)
There is something about the acoustics in my car that make me sound amazing. When I’m in my car, I AM Aretha. Combined with the fact that I have an I-Pod list that should be nominated for a Grammy (if there were such a category as Great I-Pod Selections), and you have a recipe for an awesome concert.
If you were traveling on I-65 or I-94 this weekend, you may have heard a wide variety of selections – yes, I do sing that loudly – from Motown (Al Green and Jackie Wilson) to rap (Coolio and Public Enemy) to lost hits of the ’80s (Big Country and The Tubes). I do a little of everything – except for country. I do have a Johnny Cash song, but it is a Nine Inch Nails remake, so that doesn’t really count.
I have yet to answer the question of whether the Black Crowes’ version of “Hard to Handle” is better than the Otis Redding one. I’ll try to resolve that issue at my next concert, or maybe it will be judged a tie as I have with the soulful version of Marvin Gaye’s “Heard It Through the Grapevine” vs. the Gladys Knight and the Pips’ sassy take on the song. Unfortunately, the version I downloaded of Gladys Knight sounds like they were rushing to catch a plan to make their 10 p.m. show in Vegas.
Finally, I have to brag about my Missouri Tigers – headed to the SEC championship in their second year in the conference. Go Tigers.