Seizing The Day at Preakness 2024

The Day: May 18, 2024
The Event: Just another nice weekend gig at Paris Mountain Vineyard in Rockmart, Georgia.
parismountainvineyards.com/

Paris Mountain Vineyards is a beautiful Vineyard surrounded by miles and miles of gorgeous countryside. The countryside is perfect for growing grapes and where you can almost imagine wild horses galloping proudly and freely through the lush green fields. I was looking forward to this gig because it was the owner Scott's 60th Birthday, and the audience there is always receptive and fun, with or without adequate wine intake. Due to the cloudy weather, I was performing inside instead of the lovely covered patio they had.

I always love performing outside, but being inside has its advantages. Aside from being protected from inclement weather, there was a sizeable, state-of-the-art big-screen TV on the opposite wall to keep my eyes busy while I strummed my music for my fans, friends, and patrons who came to see me.

When I was ready to start performing, the place was packed, the mood exciting, and I was looking forward to a good show. Many A1A fans were there to see me, but I also noticed that everyone was paying much attention to the big screen. When I perform inside at venues such as this, which unfortunately is rare these days, I am more concerned with my music than what is on the big screen TV. Today, however, when I looked up and gave the giant LED wall a bit of my time, I became instantly engaged. I noticed that Preakness was being broadcast live.

For those unfamiliar, The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held annually on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The Preakness Stakes is a Grade I race run over a distance of 1+3⁄16 miles on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds; fillies 121 pounds. It is the second jewel of the Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes. I have never claimed to know much about horse racing, and I have never ridden a horse for longer than 10 minutes in my life. So, one might wonder why I was so interested in this race. In a very cool turn of events in my life, it turns out that Alisa and Glen Sloan, the parents of one of the singers in my band A1A, Olivia Ivey, had a horse competing in the race.

Now, while I may not be up on the ins and outs of horse racing, I knew this was a huge deal. Like everyone else in the room, I was very interested in the race and felt they needed to understand why. So I grabbed the microphone, commanded their attention, and gave my attentive crowd the extent of the information about Olivia, Alisa, and Glen and their horse, "Seize The Grey." I do not think everyone believed me at first, but I quickly earned the trust of all, and now everyone in the room was pulling for "Seize The Grey." I was surprised to learn that several people in the room had already placed official bets, and some were getting on their phones to place new bets or change the ones they had already made. All for "Seize The Grey." I was beaming with delight. Be that as it may, I assumed the odds of "Seize The Grey" actually winning were pretty small, and it was time for me to start singing.

So, I started my set with some classic songs written around horses, "Run For The Roses," "Wildfire," "Horse With No Name," etc., and went on from there. My set was flowing nicely, and people were very attentive. I would glance back to the big screen now and then to see if the race was underway. When the big moment came and the gates were raised, I  thought how cool it was to watch this race, knowing I had some lovely people close to me who owned a horse up there racing. But in all honesty, I never assumed that there was a chance that "Seize The Grey" would win. So I kept singing and watching when suddenly the entire room started getting louder and louder, looking back at me and shouting. In a brief moment when I had been concentrating solely on my music and had averted my eyes, "Seize The Grey" had taken the lead. Holy Cow. I could not believe it. At this point, I stopped playing, took off my guitar, and joined the rest of the people in the winery who were ALL pulling for "Seize The Grey." As each moment quickly passed and the end of the race drew near, the intense astonishment and excitement in the winery grew and grew. It was like we were all family pulling for the same horse. Then, at the moment "Seize The Grey" galloped fiercely over the finish line, the entire place erupted, and most of them looked back at me, cheering, smiling, and dancing with joy. I got the impression that a lot of money had just been won by more than a few people in the room. I was in total amazement that this actually happened and got on the phone quickly to text Olivia to tell her that her parent's horse won! The staff poured wine and champagne, and I took a short break to help everyone celebrate.

I want to think that the massive positive energy our crowd sent through the cosmos helped push Alisa and Glen's prize beauty first across the finish line. Regardless, I am thrilled and proud of them. Scott's 60th Birthday was a huge success. Everyone loved my performance, and at the end of the day, the 'horse with no name' now most certainly had one - Seize The Gray!!!