I met Yoakum on an airplane once and spent a few minutes speaking with him. At the time, I knew of him, but I wasn’t a great fan of his music. I barely recognized the guy. The Dwight Yoakum that I knew was that guy on the stage twisting around with his guitar while wearing a giant cowboy hat down low on his head. On the plane, he was just this average looking guy whose hairline was rapidly receding. For me, that big hat had kept me from actually seeing him.

We flew in from [somewhere….forget now where it was] to Mexico City where he was filming a movie with Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz*. Bandidas. He hung around on the plane so that he’d be one of the last to through Mexican Customs and Immigration.

And I remember thinking….here’s an–at best–average looking guy, and he’s going to Mexico where they’ll treat him great, and they’re going to pay him real money to spend a couple’o weeks hanging out with 2 of the most beautiful women around. Sometimes, life just ain’t fair.

*BTW, I just re-watched Ferrari on Netflix. Penelope Cruz plays Laura Ferrari, the wife of Enzo Ferrari (played by Adam Driver). I thought that Cruz’ performance was incredible. There is a scene in the movie…no more than a minute…where Laura goes through all the emotions that a woman can feel….love, hope, sadness, grief….and Cruz shows all those feelings without saying a word. Highly recommended.