Chance to Meet Joey and Rory

Lori and I ventured to Williamsburg, Mich., last week for the chance to see a free concert at the Turtle Creek Casino. Joey & Rory, a country duo tearing up CMT with a popular song called "Cheater Cheater," were performing at WLDR's Free Thursday Concert. Watching great music in small venues is fun. This was a small venue, Level 3.

One frustrating thing was the lack of available information about the show. Turtle Creek didn't advertise it on their Web site, the company's "contact us" email address bounced back several times, and the operator didn't provide any information either. Joey & Rory's Myspace page listed the start time at 8 p.m. When we finally got to the casino, the sign out front said the show started at 7 p.m.

"Bummer," or something similar, I muttered. "We'll never get a chance to see the show." I think I learned that optimism from my dad.

We decided to go in, anyway.

We arrived on Level 3 and I mentioned, "It's packed. Look at all the people."

"It'll be okay," Lori reassured me.

We walked in and watched some of the show, about three or four songs. Then, they said they were taking a break but they would be back.

They returned 20 minutes later for a second set. By then, we were standing in the front row. The show was really good. They interacted with the crowd well and their music (just Rory's guitar) and singing (several duets) was solid.

Afterward, they said they would be available to sign anything or take pictures with fans. We decided not to wait in the line and went to the casino floor to walk around. After several minutes, we decided to go back up to Level 3 and see where the line was.

The country duo were finishing up, so we walked up and talked to them. This is when the story gets non–Rick like. We brought our Olympus camera that I rarely use now that I have my Nikon DSLR. We didn't bring any backup batteries, so about 10 pictures into the set, the camera died.

Rory said, "Do you want to get a picture with us."

"Yea," I smiled and said. "But our camera died."

"No problem." He whipped out his iPhone. "We'll get some one to take the picture and I'll send it to you right now."

So a WLDR deejay took the picture and Rory sent it to Lori right away.


That's customer service!