Recently (and I apologize for the Poodleism neglect, I’m a working gal now), I had one of the oddest cultural experiences of my life. Me and manfriend went to an Al Green concert at the Winstar casino. I was scolded for trying to take pictures in the casino, so this was the only snapshot that survived our sojourn. It’s a shame. I’ll try to re-create the ridiculousness in prose.

For those of you who may not be familiar with either:

Al Green is a 70’s-era soul/funk singer. He’s definitely a brother, straight soul and straight sexy. I love his music and I love him. He’s one of my favorites, throwback or present-day. Here’s a pic of him from back in the day:

The Winstar is an Indian casino in Oklahoma. It’s just over the Texas-Oklahoma border, but its far enough over to get a good slice of the culture in Oklahoma. Allowing Indians to run a casino for white-trash people as a concession is an odd idea to me (on another note, I discussed the raw deal we gave the Indians with some of my colleagues the other day. Boo white men and their fire water). The crowd at the Winstar was a real downer. I was comparing it to Vegas, that was a mistake. These people are in costume but aren’t unlike the Winstar patrons. You had a lot of obesity, a lot of smokers, literally-and I counted- 5 men wearing overalls, and a lot of big hair:

The weird part of it all was the Al Green fans in the Indian casino. In the ballroom where the concert was held me and manfriend were 2 of 8 white people in the whole venue. It was awesome. The other patrons were yelling and shakin’ it like only black people really can. I mean that as nothing but the upmost compliment. As soon as the show was over, the whole concert poured back into the heavenly Americana that is an Oklahoman casino just outside the doors. I was poised/excited to see an altercation. No suck luck on the racial scuffle, but there was definitely a strange quiet vibe in the room. It felt like a social experiment. It could’ve been for all I know.

Nonetheless, the concert was amazing, the casino was great people-watching. I don’t know if I’ll be back to the Winstar, or Oklahoma for that matter, but it was something that sent my little observing mind into a whirlwind. I love a good cultural experience. I’m going to call it my educational endeavor for the month.

I think my next such educational endeavor will be a cultural look at the German tradition of Oktoberfest. That will most definitely be in the name of education. .