Last week while while surfing through Amazon.com, I came across a Dale Watson concert video that I had not been previously aware of.  I own his other video, "For Fans Only," that was shot on the road somewhere, I don't know where, but it''s Dale Watson so it doesn't matter.  This new one was shot in the Netherlands, odd place for the "King of the Honky Tonks," as my steel-playing friend, Danny Crelin likes to call him, but again, who cares, it's Dale Watson.  Well, ten seconds after my idiot mailman delivered it, it was in my DVD player.  The music was great, as usual, but the video production left a lot to be desired.  This concert had the potential to be badass but instead, fell into the "what were they thinking?" category.   Why?  Because the video crew was not familiar with Dale's music and probably never shot a concert before -- and boy did it show.

Time after time they would switch to shots that were not  relevant.  For instance, during many a steel guitar solo, the shot was on the drummer or a wide shot or a crowd shot -- everything but the steel.  In most cases it wasn't until the last bar that they would switch to a shot of the steel.  It was painful to watch.  Years ago when I worked in the control room for The Nashville Network, we used to broadcast the Grand Ole Opry live every Saturday night.  There was a guy, I think his name was Curt, who was an Assistant Director or something.  His was the voice I would hear giving commands on the other end of the intercom.  This guy was on it.  Seconds before something was going to happen, he would say something like, "Steel guitar coming up in 8 bars," and the second the solo would start, they would switch to the appropriate camera.  It go like that for everything, piano, fiddle, whatever.  It was a truly beautiful thing.  I don't know if he researched everything or what, but it was clear that he cared and was into it.  Later on I moved down the hall to CMT and found out I was the only one in operations who liked country music, therefore I was the only one who had the sound up through my shift and actually watched the broadcast.  Silly me, I thought that's what we were getting paid to do.  I found it hard to believe that someone who wasn't into the material could do as good of a job as someone who was.

What's my point to all this?  Wouldn't it be nice if we could just redistribute all the jobs so that people could do what they were passionate about?  Wouldn't the world be a happier place if we could all do what we liked?  I could go back to working in country music full time and someone who loves tennis could come and take my current job at Tennis Channel.  I think for every job that's out there, there is someone who is passionate about it but not doing it.  That goes for everything from mowing lawns to waiting tables.  For every job that sombody hates, there is a person who would love it.  My fiancee hates cleaning the cat box as much as I hate scrubbing the bathroom.  Turns out she likes the bathroom scrubbing and I kind of have fun sifting through cat litter.  There you go.  Problem solved.  We can do this, people, it will just take a lot of planning and organization.

As for the Dale Watson concert, I think you should buy it knowing that the music is great but the video part sucks.  And Dale, if you read this and want someone to do a killer concert for you, call me.  I'll even track down Curt from TNN to help.