2/7 - Trading Post

Pete and Linda came out to show their support. It was really great to see them! I was surprised that they ventured out there, since it's at the opposite end of the earth from where they live.

I was also surprised to see R.J. and Winston. Even though they rode in on a Camel, they were still Kool. I think they went out to talk with Mary a few times during the evening too.

Well, I must mention the bathrooms again. Hey, a bathroom can tell you a lot about the place that surrounds it. The toilet paper was chained and padlocked to the wall. Now, I'm not sure if that was their way of discouraging toilet paper theft or if they just had an overabundance of chains and padlocks. The women's room had the word women painted on it like graffiti and there was a hole in the door that could have been used to rest your fist in if you got bored with keeping your arms at your side. The mirror was so non-reflective that I wondered why they even bothered with the mirror at all.

However ~ Linda clued me in to the fact that there was a "nice" bathroom on the other side of the bar by the pool tables. This one had a normal sign on the door and it was big and bright
inside and it had one of those circular tables with a ruffled cover over it with the glass over that. There was a framed Chip and Dale picture on it and a nice little fake fern. One entire wall was dedicated to Harley Davidson with their logo painted on it and the mirror in this bathroom was not only reflective, but it was full length. Guess the choice of bathroom depends on how a girl is feeling about herself at the time.

SO...we're playing along with Mudcat and Jake doing some very impressive guitar solos and people are clapping (which I took as a good sign) when this guy walks up to us and tells us to "kick it up", so I asked him if he meant the type of music or the volume. He said both. Then I asked him what he wanted to hear and he said to play anything. Fine then. I asked him again and he told us to play some Hank Williams. Just then a scene from the Blues Brothers flashed before me and I wished that I had thought to bring some chicken wire with me.

But don't worry about us....we were alright.

This seemed to be mostly a biker bar (kinda figured that out with the Harley wall), but all that leather was peppered with the boys in bib overalls and cowboy boots, construction workers who came right from the job and with girls who had dress-up sweat shirts or the kind you boys would think twice about taking home to meet your mom. Well, I'm sure you could take her home to meet your mom after she changed her shirt that said "I'M DRINKING FUCK OFF". We just let her drink.

And you know there had to be the guy in camouflage to go with all that mix (and there was). When we were singing "down by the river, I shot my baby" I swear that camo-boy looked at me like "yeah...me too". That was a wee bit disturbing and sort of amusing all at the same time.

One snippet of conversation that I heard was some guy telling his buddies about how bad his day was. His car wouldn't start. Then he got it started and he drove through a mud puddle and his muffler fell off. Yeah, the parking lot had a lot of duct tape in it. Neil Young was right, rust never sleeps...it just waits in the parking lot of the the Trading Post.

Oh yeah, there's a newish beer out there that I'm pretty sure was invented by some guy at Budweiser who was trying to kill his hangover at a marketing meeting and just got lucky. It's Bud (or Bud Lite) with Clamato juice. Say it with me ~ EWWWWWWWWWWWWA.

1/30 - 3rd Base (it's a bar, that's not how far I let him get)

Betty and Bernie were there with their entourage. THANK YOU! I do believe that Betty is our official den mother, recording secretary, historian, lyrics finder, and all 'round good sport.

Jeff and Carrie were there, but were around the corner (no, not the bar in Lakewood) and they didn't even realize that we were the band until we took a break and I went to talk with them.

Swan was there to offer support and to regale us with her tales of meatloaf (apparently, it's not just for supper anymore).

Chloe made her appearance too, which was a most welcomed sight! And she allowed us to not miss a beat (no pun intended) with keeping us abreast (I said breast) of the conversations at the bar while we were in the midst of our sets.

There were a couple of guys at the bar who thanked us for taking them back..."but not too far back". You're welcome. I think.

Jake kicked ass on his guitar solos and I'm not the only one who thought so, based on all the applause from family, friends, and strangers.

If I didn't tell you in the last post (hey, I've slept since then and I have CRS ~ Can't Remember Shit) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAKE! Even if I did tell you, the sentiment is still the same.

The End