The Author Guy Blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve

 12th July 2024


Hello out there,


Welcome back. Ever been annoyed by people talking among themselves or on their cell phones during

any formal gathering? I have. Many times. The most recent was a few weeks ago at the iconic Nashville

Honky Tonk known as 3 rd & Lindsley. If you figured that was an intersection of two streets, you’d 

be correct.


A month ago, I wrote that a dear friend of ours is among the country’s finest Linda Ronstadt tribute

singers, and if you’ve read my award-winning novel Blue by You, you may recall I’m a huge Ronstadt

fan. A decades-old quote attributed to no less than the wonderful Willie Nelson goes like this: “There are

two kinds of men in the world – those who have a crush on Linda Ronstadt and those who don’t know

who she is.” I know who she is.


Our friend opened with a one-hour set ahead of an Eagles tribute band comprised of several of

Nashville’s finest studio musicians. Sound like a great evening of entertainment in Music City, right?

Wrong.


We were sitting at a table for eight, and the other six besides my wife and me spent the entire hour

laughing, talking, sharing texts and pictures on their precious cell phones while noisily sharing each

other’s food. Reckon why they even bothered to invest the time and money to be there in the first place?

Anyway, it diminished the evening for us (we’d driven over 60 miles one-way to be there) and I’m

guessing for others at tables near ours.


If you recognize yourself as an occasional culprit, please don’t do it anymore. Anywhere. Anytime. And

if you’ve encountered and suffered with similar occurrences and had an effective means of putting an end

to it, please share with me and, by extension, readers of this blog.


I’ll return next week with what I promise to be a much happier posting.


Until then … Vaya con Dios.


Larry B. Gildersleeve

Location: Bowling Green, KY, USA

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