Garth Part V

The third Garth show I would be seeing in the fall of 1998 was one I would be seeing with a guy named Mark Schocker who used to live in Winona (as I did) and who had since moved up to the Twin Cities area. He had some schizophrenia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

but nobody's perfect. He had married a woman originally from Russia (her name was Lyuda Bey. Mark used to call her Lyuda Babe). He was a pretty big country fan, so was more than willing to go see the big guy on a Saturday night. I picked Mark up in the late afternoon and we headed to Target Center. The seats were pretty damn good this time, the best yet. They weren't on the floor, but were on the lower level with an awesome view of the stage. Before too long, the couple I knew came and sat next to us. I introduced 'em to Schock boy and we chatted for a bit. They asked me about all the GB shows I was seeing. I said the main reason I had bought tickets to so many shows was because I thought his playlist might be different from night to night. But, generally, it had been the same.

Garth came out and would you believe he wasn't wearing a cowboy hat or a long-sleeved Western shirt?

http://www.planetgarth.com/gbphoto/index.php?action=display&cid=67&pid=429

He said that since it was Saturday night, he just wanted to cut loose, so thought the T-shirt and baseball cap would be a nice change. He asked the crowd if they minded. They roared with approval. Thankfully, there were a couple songs GB sang that night that he hadn't done earlier in the week (most notably "American Honky-Tonk Bar Association"). Near the end of the show, the rest of the band left the stage and it was just Garth and the crowd. He sang a few numbers, just him and his guitar. Again, a fun time was had by all.

After the show, I dropped Mark back off. He said he had had a great time. Regrettably, I haven't seen him since. We talked on the phone a bit in the weeks after the show, but then kind of lost track of each other. He no longer lives at the residence he did 8 years ago. I've looked for his name online without any luck. It's amazing how people can just drift out of your life and all of a sudden, it's been years since you last saw them.