Doing the Chicken Dance on Central Avenue
This weekend contained probably the most live music that Megan and I have had in a while. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to make it through the weekend, given all the events that we had planned, but I trusted to fate and alcohol that we would make it through.
The weekend started with a trip up to Los Alamos after work to see Terri Hendrix. She is a singer-songwriter from Texas, and Megan and I used to travel up to the Cibolo Creek Country Club, a down-to-earth honest-to-god Texas dance hall and watch her play while drinking Shiner Bock as the trains shook the place on their way by. As an added attraction, Terri had her longtime side-man Lloyd Maines with her, who is a legend on the Texas music scene but is probably best known nationally for fathering Dixie Chicks vocalist Natalie Maines. The weather in Los Alamos was cool but clear as we drove up, and we were amazed to find that not many people had gathered for the event. It turned out that there was a nasty rainstorm that came through about an hour before, and that kept a lot of people away. I'd estimate that the crowd was about 100 later on. We had front row seats in our K-Mart chairs on the street, and had a great time listening to Terri's new and old music. We bought a couple of CDs, talked with Terri, and made the 1½ drive back to Albuquerque happy.
Saturday was Gay Pride day, and we went down to Central Avenue for the Pride parade, joining up with Megan's colleague Tiffany and her friends at Graze. The weather was hot, but the paraders beat the heat by dressing down considerably. Megan concentrated on blowing bubbles supplied by Tiffany toward the paraders which was a big hit -- a couple of drag queens squealed "We love bubbles!!!!" at her. I blew a whistle and got a hug from the PFLAG folks. All in all, it was a fine morning. We followed up that evening by going to the budget flicks to see V for Vendetta, which seemed to fit the theme of the day because Megan proclaimed "V" the gayest superhero ever. Though full of Wachowski brothers moralizing (who really talks like V?) Natalie Portman was beautiful and the movie was fun.
Sunday we got up very early and I ran, and Megan walked, the Komen Run/Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness. My time was not that great, but it was a good cause. Afterward, we came home and Megan made a couple of her famous quiches which we took to Tiffany's monthly brunch. We socialized with a bunch of the glitterati of ABQ's young set, including the director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, famed for calling Republicans a bunch of "punk-ass bitches." Megan's quiche was again a hit, and we left Kristen's house (where Tiffany's brunch was held) with tummies full of food and Mimosas.
We made our way down to the Launchpad on Central at about 6:30 p.m. Due to a misunderstanding about what an "all ages show" actually means, we had to run Megan home to get her I.D., and then come back. It didn't matter. Our goal was to see Brave Combo, another band we had gotten to know in Texas. They have a national following, and while they tend to concentrate on playing "nuclear polka" they can do practically anything in any style -- just witness their hard rocking version of the Hokey Pokey. The highlight of the night was a walk out to Central Avenue where we did their version of the Chicken Dance for the cruisers passing back and forth along the street. When I mean "their version of the Chicken Dance" I mean the Chicken Dance so fast you can't possibly keep up with them. I haven't danced so much since I sat down on a fire ant mound when we lived in San Antonio, and this time it was much more fun! You can hear some of their music here: http://brave.com/bo/sounds/
All in all, it was a great weekend, and we were dead tired by Sunday evening.
The weekend started with a trip up to Los Alamos after work to see Terri Hendrix. She is a singer-songwriter from Texas, and Megan and I used to travel up to the Cibolo Creek Country Club, a down-to-earth honest-to-god Texas dance hall and watch her play while drinking Shiner Bock as the trains shook the place on their way by. As an added attraction, Terri had her longtime side-man Lloyd Maines with her, who is a legend on the Texas music scene but is probably best known nationally for fathering Dixie Chicks vocalist Natalie Maines. The weather in Los Alamos was cool but clear as we drove up, and we were amazed to find that not many people had gathered for the event. It turned out that there was a nasty rainstorm that came through about an hour before, and that kept a lot of people away. I'd estimate that the crowd was about 100 later on. We had front row seats in our K-Mart chairs on the street, and had a great time listening to Terri's new and old music. We bought a couple of CDs, talked with Terri, and made the 1½ drive back to Albuquerque happy.
Saturday was Gay Pride day, and we went down to Central Avenue for the Pride parade, joining up with Megan's colleague Tiffany and her friends at Graze. The weather was hot, but the paraders beat the heat by dressing down considerably. Megan concentrated on blowing bubbles supplied by Tiffany toward the paraders which was a big hit -- a couple of drag queens squealed "We love bubbles!!!!" at her. I blew a whistle and got a hug from the PFLAG folks. All in all, it was a fine morning. We followed up that evening by going to the budget flicks to see V for Vendetta, which seemed to fit the theme of the day because Megan proclaimed "V" the gayest superhero ever. Though full of Wachowski brothers moralizing (who really talks like V?) Natalie Portman was beautiful and the movie was fun.
Sunday we got up very early and I ran, and Megan walked, the Komen Run/Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness. My time was not that great, but it was a good cause. Afterward, we came home and Megan made a couple of her famous quiches which we took to Tiffany's monthly brunch. We socialized with a bunch of the glitterati of ABQ's young set, including the director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, famed for calling Republicans a bunch of "punk-ass bitches." Megan's quiche was again a hit, and we left Kristen's house (where Tiffany's brunch was held) with tummies full of food and Mimosas.
We made our way down to the Launchpad on Central at about 6:30 p.m. Due to a misunderstanding about what an "all ages show" actually means, we had to run Megan home to get her I.D., and then come back. It didn't matter. Our goal was to see Brave Combo, another band we had gotten to know in Texas. They have a national following, and while they tend to concentrate on playing "nuclear polka" they can do practically anything in any style -- just witness their hard rocking version of the Hokey Pokey. The highlight of the night was a walk out to Central Avenue where we did their version of the Chicken Dance for the cruisers passing back and forth along the street. When I mean "their version of the Chicken Dance" I mean the Chicken Dance so fast you can't possibly keep up with them. I haven't danced so much since I sat down on a fire ant mound when we lived in San Antonio, and this time it was much more fun! You can hear some of their music here: http://brave.com/bo/sounds/
All in all, it was a great weekend, and we were dead tired by Sunday evening.
posted by Michael L. Hess at 9:42 AM
2 Comments:
This is my favorite entry yet ;)
Grreat read thank you
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