Charlie Crist is a cool guy

i was just minding my business, having a burger & some beers with my roommate at The Red Onion in Gainesville. it's a neighborhood bar & grill, kind of off the beaten path for the "cool" downtown crowd. we were just chillin' and listening to our pal mama trish entertain the crowd with her mixture of classic rock covers and bluesy originals.

all of a sudden, these guys in suits burst through the door, looking around purposefully and speaking into their shoulders. and then, my eyes were blinded by the silver mane of none other than Florida Governor Charlie Crist! my god, what a TAN. his entourage took seats at some tables right behind us ("behind", as it related to the stage), while Gov. Crist and a couple of his goons bellied up to the bar, directly to my left.

it was obvious that the crowd was content to let the Governor enjoy himself in peace. one lady did come up and offer to buy him a beer, which i believe he accepted. i'm not sure what this bribe was all about...or that she actually went through with getting him the beer. all i know is that a few minutes later he's got a glass of darker beer which was about half-gone.

all the while, Mama Trish keeps the hits a-coming..."Squeeze Box", some Beatles stuff, some Joni Mitchell...at one point she even caved in to my yelled request and played Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla"--a crowd favorite if i've EVER heard one. after each song there would be the obligatory applause from the audience, and, since i could turn around and spy at the Governor without being too conspicuous, judging from his enthusiastic clapping and the look in his eye he seems to be quite fond of classic rock.

at one point one of his guys who had a habit of talking into his shoulder got up and marched to the back of his restaurant to the men's room, and either he takes care of business faster than anyone i've ever seen or he was just checking the stalls for wayward senators with "wide stances", but that guy burst out of the men's room door in about two seconds, then hurried back over to, i suppose, give Charlie the skinny on the bathroom. it must not have passed the security test, because, to the best of my knowledge, he never got up to relieve himself the whole time he was there. i was curious...i went to check it out for myself. hmmmm...looked clean to me. so, while i was there i went ahead and did my business and then did what i was shocked to hear this past week was a lot less common practice than i ever would've figured...i washed my hands. with soap. i was thinking ahead...
i might shake the governor's hand..

i stroll back to my table and proceed to toss back yet another beer. all of a sudden, a shot out of the blue, during a break between applause and another song:

"hey, do ya know any Neil Young?"

it was Governor Crist. requesting Neil Young at some goofy bar & grill here in Gainesville. i was impressed, to say the least...


he then proceeded to put on a charade by introducing himself to the female staff. i would guess that, this being Berkley of the South & all, that i was probably the only person there who voted for him. (on a related note, i asked my roommate, who didn't vote for Crist, who HE voted for...he couldn't remember the Democratic candidate's name...) seizing what i perceived to be an opportunity which was on the verge of dissapearing, my roomate & i strolled over and introduced ourselves to the governor. he shook my roomie's hand quickly, and then it was my turn. for some reason i blurted out "i voted for you, governor". he said something like "keep doing it", and i said something back like, "well, just keep on doing what you're doing". which, coming from me is pretty much a lie, since Crist's politics are geared toward whatever will eventually earn him 100% approval ratings, and he's getting disturbingly chummy with the global-warming gang...but i was kind of starstruck.

like i said, he's a cool guy.

UPDATE: Mama Trish weighs in on the same story...