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If you asked me who Toby Keith was before I moved to New Hampshire four years ago, I’d tell you I have no clue. Then if you told me he was a country music star, I’d probably laugh at you.

In the town I grew up in, Arlington, Mass., you were allowed to love bands like Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Kiss, and of course Led Zeppelin. They were really the only bands that you were allowed to love as far as music was concerened. ;) Fortunately, the house I grew up in, had a more diverse range of music played in it. Country music was played, however it was limited to Peggy Lee and Elvis.

It is amazing how much your life and musical tastes can change in four years. It isn’t that I didin’t like country music four years ago. I did like it. I just never had time to love it, because that love was previously occupied by heavy metal and rock music. Don’t get me wrong, when I was a kid, I loved the music in the movies Urban Cowboy and Coal Miner’s Daughter, and as I got older, I eventually came to love Garth Brooks. That was about the extent of my country music listening background.

So four years ago, I started treating myself to a manicure every other week at a local nail salon whose TV always has on CMT. If my manicurist wasn’t the best one around, in the Concord, NH area, I may have switched salons to avoid CMT each Saturday. Well, because that wasn’t an option and by virture of proxy, country music began to rub off on me. And of course, as you can tell, by the title of the blog posting, one performer in particular has really grabbed hold of me.

My love for Toby Keith isn’t just comprised of liking his linebacker build and cute smile - Really! His lyrics and play on words are very clever. It isn’t easy to memorize a Toby Keith song. Trust me it’s a challenge. Although he does have some mainstream songs that wouldn’t be classified as clever like “Get Drunk and Be Somebody”. What it may lack in wit, it makes up for in humor.

My love for Toby was able to blossom in the past couple of months, when first I went to see Toby Keith in concert for the first time, at the Verizon Center in Manchester, NH in February, and then in March when I went to his restaurant, appropriately named, I Love This Bar and Grill, in Las Vegas.

This is a recap of the events:

This is my friend Chris, sporting her Toby Keith hat. Chris came to see Toby in concert with me in Feb., although it wasn’t her first time seeing Toby.

This was the license plate, of a woman we met at Margarita’s in Manchester, NH, before the concert, who was in line with us outside of the Verizon Center.  Well actually, she and her friends were really warming up the crowd.  Since they were rowdy and fun, Chris asked where she and her friends were sitting, because she wanted to hang with them.  They had floor seats, as did we, 8TH row!  So when I asked this woman how big a fan she was, she said that she had met Toby and he signed her license plate and she has been to 16 shows in the past few years.  “Wow” was my reaction. Then she asked me how many times I’ve seen Toby in concert.  I told her it was my first time and then she told me that I was a “Toby Virgin”.  LOL  I’m not one anymore!

Of course, here is a picture I took of Toby in concert.  The show did not disappoint.  In fact, it left me wanting more.  Now I can understand how one would want to go to 16 Toby concerts and still not be satisfied!

Next, this is my Whiskey Girl drink at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill in Vegas.

This is me and my friend Kim at I Love This Bar and Grill in Vegas.

Check out this bartender at Toby’s place in Vegas doing his best Tom Cruise Cocktail moves!  Seeing him was worth the price of my meal, drink, and Whiskey girl t-shirt!  You should see what he did for a $5.00 tip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tags: bartender doing tom cruise cocktail moves, coal miners daughter, cocktail moves, cocktails, converted country music fan, heavy metal will always rule, hot shot bartender, las vegas, toby keith concert, toby keith, i love this bar and grill, toby love, tom cruise, urban cowboy, whiskey girl, whiskey girl drink recipe

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