COUNTRY CONNECTION: Summer pleasures abound

by pual kent
for the stafford county sun
Published: June 26, 2008

Saturday was a chance for us here at Thunder 104.5 to put our money where our mouths are. Day after day we play music talking about how great it is to be outdoors, to go places and enjoy summer in the country. It’s not always easy, especially considering the last few weeks of thunderstorms, tornados and heat waves.

It seems like every time I spend a night in the studio, something has to explode, but we finally got our chance to relax and stage an awesome concert at Mr. B’s Bluegrass Park.

Will Gravatt kicked things off with a great set amidst decent weather, which was a surprise enough. Not Will Gravatt; you expect him to rock. After the last few months of weather, though, you don’t expect it to be sunny and 87 degrees, and that was enough to put a bounce in the step of everyone there. The RVs were humming with life, surrounded by folks taking in a bit of air conditioning and a few beverages.
And then there was the chicken.

Not to be a walking billboard or anything, because if I’m doing that, I’m doing a terrible job getting paid for it, but Mr. B’s World Famous Fried Chicken is called that with good reason. I’m known around the office as the go-to guy for leftovers, so I’ve sampled just about every kind of food and every kind of quality. (Day-old sauerkraut, incidentally, is something only the bravest of souls should attempt.) But going to a concert and then having three pieces of what I can honestly say is the best fried chicken I’ve ever had just made my summer, and it’s not even July yet.

Marna & Macy, the second act of the night and one I got the honor of introducing, got people grooving with harmonies aplenty as the sun sank in the Ladysmith sky. Unfortunately, I had to be back in Fredericksburg before the headline act, one Mr. Aaron Tippin, took the stage. People keep doing awesome things at 7 p.m. on a Saturday, and I do my best not to hold it against them; considering I was spending my evening with everyone in Thunderland at once, I could only be so bitter. But listener after listener, some who I met for the first time out at Mr. B’s, raved in their assessment of the show, thanking us for the evening.

Really, when you throw a party, have great music, hang out with people who bring great food, what could be finer? Is that not what summer’s about? All the tornados and heat and ridiculous nonsense aside, isn’t it nice to have just one afternoon where the only thing you worry about is whether or not you need more lemonade?

So to all those folks I met Saturday in Ladysmith, thanks for being a part of it. And don’t worry — we love to throw a good party, so we’ll be sure to do it again soon.

Paul Kent hosts Thunder After Dark, 7 p.m. to midnight weekdays and the Saturday Night Special, Saturdays 7 p.m. to midnight on Thunder 104.5 Everything Country and More.