One Lonesome Cowboy

I didn't catch his name, but he's the gutsiest guy I'd ever seen on stage.

There's a small performance venue in the center courtyard of Neonopolis. It's at the base of the central elevator tower decorated with the electric signs that give the complex its name. Since it opened in May, 2002 the $100 million retail & entertainment complex adjacent to downtown & the former "Glitter Gulch" has lost all but a handful of tenants and of the thousands who walk by daily, only a few walk in.

But there he stood, singing and playing guitar accompanied by karaoke tracks patched into his p.a... Pretty good versions of songs ranging from George Strait to the Georgia Satellites. And all sung with good cheer an engaging manner to an audience that could be tallied on two hands.

A family of 8 Mexicans walked by, doubling the audience for around thirty seconds, and then walked on. The cowboy smiled and kept on.

Even if he wound up totally alone, he'd come to sing.