Bolnisian Cowboy

I was struggling with major disappointment (more details in later posts). And on the top of that, I had to go to Kutaisi for my new job, training some kids in disability issues. After leaving late, we finally arrived at our hotel which looked like a baroque explosion. Seriously, even extension cords had ornaments.

My friend and I decided to take a half an hour walk in the neighborhood. It was getting late and we aimed for a short stroll. As we walked by a jazz café, we forced ourselves to check it out.

And here, in the middle of Kutaisi, we found American country.

It was surreal and it was weird. Some guy in the cowboy outfit was playing guitar and harmonica and singing motherfucking country!

Now, I don’t like country. I also don’t like Kutaisi. But seeing combination of these two made me very happy. As I was contemplating whether I should dance (old stereotypes die slow. I was afraid some Kutaisian boy would interpret my dance as flirting), damn cowboy started singing Bowie’s Space Oddity. I had to stand up in awe.

I love this song. I spent a wild, stoned weekend in Prague listening to this song over and over again. I listened to it crazed by the fumes of cannabis, alone with hubby in a foreign city, wondering from one medieval street to another, trapped in a tin can, floating through the air. I listened to it as we took off to the sky,  I listened despite all “turn off your electronic devices” warnings, I listened to it as we left the ground and my fogged up mind came up with myriad of stars, and man, here I was listening to it again, in Kutaisi, out of all the places.

I talked to the cowboy after the show. Turns out he is a star of Georgian “Voice”. What do I know, I don’t watch TV. I think he was a bit disappointed that I didn’t know who he was. He shamed me as a journalist. I embarrassingly started explaining that I was no journalist that I wrote for my fun and readers’ torture but how do you explain this whole stupid thing?

Anyway, he is a country singer. From Bolnisi. He likes country because it is a matter of taste (when I asked him “why country” he looked at me like really, are you really going to ask that?).  He plays here and there; touring a whole country isn’t option – no demand. He was on Georgian singing reality show. That’s when he played “Space Oddity” (“I just did that for TV, as you can see, that’s not my style at all”). Despite his American accent, he's never been to the states. Nowhere further than Poland. He came to Kutaisi with this cute girl with nice voice that sang with him. He is a Bolsnisian cowboy. He hasn’t shaved forever. He’s on YouTube. We should be FB friends. I can get more info that way.

I felt like a pesky reporter. I was like, thank you, this is fine, I really just have a personal blog. I am just writing impressions. I am sorry for bothering you…could I name my post “Bolnisian cowboy?” sorry for being a weirdo. Sorry for not knowing who you are. Thank you for playing. Umm, yes, OK, bye.

So here I am back into my Luis XIV room, thinking of Shota Adamashvili and cursing myself for not obtaining a wifi password to look him up. I have no idea who I met and what he does, but I was so down this morning and he restored my faith in humanity.

He played country in Kutaisi.