Sweet Home Alabama

On my flight from Charlotte to Ft. Myers last week I had been bumped up to first class since I had missed my previous flight (thank you US Airways). The following conversation ensued when I sat down in my aisle seat next to a guy, let's call him Ricky:

Me: Hi
Ricky: Hi, how are you?
Me: I’d be better if I were already in Florida, but I’m doing alright, how about yourself?
Ricky: Good I’m excited to get home.
Me: Where are you coming from?
Ricky: Albany.
Me: What were you doing there?
Ricky: Oh, I’m a musician, we had a gig there and I’m going home for awhile
Me (interest aroused, I love musicians, I can talk to this dude, he’s not some lame-o banker or something): Oh REALLY? What kind of music do you do?
Ricky (casually): I’m a guitarist in a band called Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Me (internally freaking out but trying to remain calm, cool, and collected, cause, he’s just a normal guy, right?): Oh, well that’s cool.

So for my two hours from Charlotte to Ft. Myers I chatted it up with Ricky Medlocke, the guitarist of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

At one point he opened up the US Airways magazine and was flipping through and says, “OH wow, woh, there we are.” And sure enough, there was a picture of the band in the magazine, promoting their Las Vegas concert.

So I told him he should sign it, put it back in the seat pocket and then the next person who sits there will freak out when they see it. He laughed and said it was a good idea.

Then he saw an article on Martha’s Vineyard and said, “I love it there, it’s such a beautiful place (yeah, I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been, thanks for rubbing it in, jerk). One of my good friends is a Kennedy (of course), and she has a lovely place there I visit sometimes.”

He was nice. And funny. And chatty. And given my tendencies for asking questions and chatting with anyone and everyone, I learned a lot in those two hours. Including such tidbits as his favorite guitar (a Gibson guitar his biological father gave him when he was 16), which international fans are the best (Germans, English, and Irish), that he loves Flamenco music (and as an aside recommended Forever Tango, saying it was one of the greatest shows I would ever see), one of his good friends is Carrot Top, he has a 15 year old daughter, where he got his awesome ring, that he likes fishing and alligator hunting (!!!), and lots of other fun facts.

Just another day in the life.