When I was 21 and jumping up and down in the fashion of the day to the punk version of “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” as performed by the Swingers, or going to see the Ramones multiple times . . .
When I was 23 and danced every minute that the Fabulous Thunderbirds played at the annual LULAC fundraiser in Waco, losing almost five pounds in water weight, so that I had to buy a giant Butterfinger just to have the strength to drive home . . .
When I went to West Fest just to see Brave Combo, the “nuclear polka” band that played polka and salsa versions of many unlikely songs . . .
When I went to Los Padrinos in San Antonio (or the Bonham Exchange, or St. Mary’s Bar and Grill, or the Beauregard), danced until closing then hit the Taco Cabana. One bean-and-cheese, then usually a carne guisada . . .
When my college friends and I took the floor at a bowling alley in Port Washington, Wis., and danced every fast song played by Barry’s Truckers, until the band finally played a slow song and the lead singer intoned: “Sorry, girls” . . .
When I danced in my 20s, was I dancing with the feverish certainty that my dancing days would end at 30 or 35? Or did I know that I would still be jumping up and down at an age when I could easily have an of-age child beside me? Saw the Wild Magnolia last night. They threw me beads and a peace pipe. Came home at 1 –and was up at 7:30, ready to tackle the day.
You young folks who come around here (Christin, Dave, Bryon), are you delighted or horrified by the idea that one can continue having fun as long as one has no sense of shame or propriety? Would you rather be dignified?
Old folks — get out your dancing shoes and tell me what moved you. Where? When? Any of the Baltimoreans remember Kirby Scott? Any Buddy Deaners here? Because I confess I’ve always wanted to learn the Madison. Big strong line!
Does everyone have a groove thing? Does everyone have sufficient booty? These and other questions will be discussed today on “White Boys CAN Dance”. Our panel members will join us shortly.
I sort of vaguely understand about standing around and listening, but I CAN’T understand doing it and not moving; I don’t care if it’s a foot, a finger, twitching in your seat, I’ve been at SO many concerts where people just listen. Maybe they DON’T have groove things.
JD? I never went to a Sptringsteen concert and I knew! I saw it from the NEWS clips, and wondered why it took Bruce and Patti so long; I swore I saw it in still PHOTOS. But then, I’ waited YEARS for Garth and Trisha to finally figure it out. Duh. Sorry possible a little to CMT for most folks here.
Alas, the last time I remember dancing is way too many years ago – at a convention – to a Al Collins’ 50s-60s band. Thank god Jerry Healy is one of the few white boys willing to get up and move. Too few of ya out there.
But dancing at a concert? I can’t remember – did I ever? I think I went to the wrong concerts – us folkniks almost never get into a good dance rhythm.
I think this discussion inspired a new “Cardio” playlist on my iPod.
I offer it here, without apology or explanation.
I Don’t Want to Go Home (Southside Johnny)
Girls Talk (Dave Edmunds)
Everyday I Write the Book (Elvis Costello)
Till I Hear it From You (Gin Blossoms)
Come a Little Bit Closer (The Iguanas)
Got to Get You into My Life (Beatles)
Is She Really Going out with Him? (Joe Jackson)
Constant Craving (k.d. Lang)
I Feel So Good (Richard Thompson)
Barrytown (Steely Dan)
Light in Your Eyes (Subdudes)
With a Gun (Steely Dan)
Thunder Road
[cooldown]
Can’t Take My Eyes Off of Your (Iguanas with Cesar Rosas)
I Remember You (Steve Earle and Emmy Lou Harris)
It’s exactly an hour, which is down right eerie. I cannot wait to go to the gym. In fact, I’m going to leave right now.
By the way, the Nighthawks had a scene in Season 2 of The Wire.
Since I seem to have been born without a sense of shame or propriety, I don’t think I’ll be growing one anytime soon despite heading into my 30s. I will still gleefully make an ass of myself in any situation possible as long as there is a high in it for me. Sadly, most of my ass-making exploits lately seem to involve confessing my guilty pleasures to the blogosphere instead of sweating it out on the dance floor. I think it’s time to hit the gay bars again…
Don’t you mean the Gay Bars Gay Bars?
And as for dignified, well, ask everyone who was around at BCon Austin to watch me do an impromptu performance of “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball” as a friend rolled the camera. No alcohol was involved, either…
Back in the Stone Age we would jitterbug/shag, slow dance, Latin dance, or even square dance, but it was always couples. My favorite was jitterbugging to whatever music, as long as it had the fast beat.
Are Arthur Murray Studios still around anywhere? In my 17th summer, a girlfriend and I, after taking the initial Latin rhythms, were able to take more and more advanced classes in much that was offered because we rose to the challenge of bringing in new customers, for which we kept getting free classes. The trouble with being proficient in the tango was that there weren’t very many guys around who could dance with us.
Dance as long as you can and don’t worry about what someone else might be thinking of you. Some of those older folks on the sidelines might be wishing their bodies hadn’t quit on them. If you look down, you will probably see a lot of their feet tapping.
I saw an Arthur Murry studio in Pittsburgh just last month.
My entire Cardio playlist is EVERYDAY SUNSHINE by Fishbone, which came on at the perfect moment during my last bike commute.
Hey, who are you calling old??
My concert days are fading, although primarily because of my increasing distaste for arena shows, but I had an incredible time dancing to the Indigo Girls a number of years ago, and to Mary Chapin Carpenter not too long ago. If I had someone to take me, I’d still go out dancing — and since when does having wild and crazy fun in healthy middle age require lacking shame and propriety?
I’ve never been much of a dancer due to lack of: coordination, rhythm, and fitness, but Kerry reminded me that last year at the Indigo Girls towards the end of their set they had almost all of us up on our feet.
Laura, I had breakfast at Taco Cabana last week on a trip back to San Antonio. Wish they had some in this part of the country!
Being 42 I don’t know If I fall on theold or young side of the fence, but I judging how my knees feel in the morning I would lean towards old.
Just a year ago Ruth and I went to see Rob Zombie. Love the music but we might be a bit old for mosh pits. We still go and see a lot of live music, Everclear puts on a great show, and we just saw Joe Jackson. And there are days after work before Ruth come home that I crank up music really loud and just jump around like an idiot. Past two weeks it’s been the Chili Peppers, and they are a year older than I am, so I figure if they can do it, I can do it. Hell, last year at Magna Cum Murder Ruth Dudley Edwards outdanced all of us….
You’re never too old to Rock and Roll.
Oh I’m still living like a kid. Lots of live music events. It does sometimes feel weird to be next to someone who is young enough to be my kid. But I don’t usually let it bother me.
Have you ever been to the Siren Music Festival at Coney Island? That one can be a bit weird because its very noticeable that as you get closer and closer to the stage, the average age of the audience decreases in stages. By the time you are right up front you are surrounded by 16 year olds. This probably happens to some extent at other concerts, but it was so much more noticeable at this event.
Six years ago yesterday: Bruce at the Fleet Center in Boston. I cried when I got to our seats: sixth row, which later on became front row, standing in front with my hand on the stage when Bruce sang my favorite song “Thunder Road”. I danced, sweated and cried so much during the show that I had to stop and get orange juice at a convenience store right outside the Center. It was one of the best nights of my life.
I’d rather you keep having fun, Laura. Isn’t that what it’s all about? I have a friend who gets self conscious sometimes, don’t we all? And I keep reminding her that it’s okay. At the same time I’m reminding myself the same thing. It’s okay to have fun. It’s okay to make a fool of yourself at a wedding or in a bar or in a bowling ally or at school. Just keep dancing and smiling.
Heh! Great question.
All time favorites: U2 in 1982 0r 3, at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. Opening, if you can believe it, for Todd Rundgren. They opened with “Gloria” in the middle of a driving rainstorm. Halfway through the song, Bono was climbing one of the big poles that supported the canopy over the stage while lightning flashed in the sky. He ended up hanging on with one hand, leaning out over the crowd and singing..and he never dropped a note. At the end of the bridge, he shouted out “This is THE EDGE” while the band played like they were barelling over it. And that was the opening song.
1984 I think it was: Raleigh Civic Center: The Fabulous Knobs (great local outfit), The Nighthawks, and George Thorogood headlining. The Nighthawks kicked so much ass that Thorogood came out with this look on his face like “what have I gotten myself into?” He then proceeded to raise the roof with one of the most barn burning blues sets I’ve ever witnessed. At one point, he looked straight down at me and my date and growled: “That’s a fine lookin woman there…so why the hell are you looking at ME?”
1986: Bruce Springsteen , The “Born in the USA” tour. Need I say more? When he kicked off the encore with CCR’s”Travelin’ Band” I fell to my knees and cackled with joy as if my mind had deserted me. It had.
1989: Bruce again: The Tunnel of Love tour, during which he played whole sets of material that hadn’t appeared on any album (and some that still haven’t). This is when he was still married to that actress whose name escapes me right now, but the stuff going on onstage between Bruce and Patti Scialfa made us look at each other and go “hmmm..does Mrs. S know about this?” You do’t often see that kind of drama at a rock show.
Unfortunately, these days, I don’t have the time or patience to stand in line or wait online for the big shows. Plus, I live so far out in the sticks that the Presbyterians handle snakes, so the club shows are a bit problematic as well. But Rock and Roll never forgets…
After my foray with MLA into the warehouse district last weekend, hitting Apple Bar, Oslo, Saba and coming home at midnight, my youngest daughter (16) was apalled… but I think not seriously. The way she constantly complains about the fogeys her friends have for parents, I think she’s not too displeased to have ‘rents that are still young at heart.
Gabba, gabba, hey
When I played reggae, it was a pleasant surprise that the head-shaking comments within the band weren’t about the white people who danced like white people, but about the white people who didn’t dance at all. Nobody understood how you could just stand and <i>listen.</i>
I still make dancing-white-people comments myself (despite being a White Boy of the first order), but now I think the greater sin than insufficient booty control is failure to shake one’s groove thing.
I’m a five year graduate of Arthur Murray and I can attest they are still around and teaching us to shake our groove thang with good posture.
Last concert I attended was Tina Turner’s farewell. Ticket prices, fear for hearing ability and “those other people” have conspired to keep me away in my later years.
I’d have to agree with you, Andi, Jerry Healy is one fine, tireless dancer! (wore me out
And as Jon said, we had a very cool evening that ended being a ‘dancefest’ during the Magna conference last year in Muncie. We kinda took over a place around the corner that had the most amazing local band. Great time!
Most memorable concerts I’ve been to include the one time we saw Jim Croce, at Ravinia, in early 1970s, just a few days before the plane crash that tragically took his life. Wow, he was somethin’… Another great memory was early 90s in New Orleans, Titpatina’s.. the Neville Brothers! SRO. Same week, we saw Linda Rondstadt w/ Aaron Neville (of the angelic voice) with The Subdudes. Now, that rocked!
I’ll be celebrating a BIG traumatic birthday soon … it ends in zero. So to console myself, bought me a present – tickets to see Mick and the Boys — two times! Sure, they’re old.. but I’m catching up fast! Will be my first-ever Stones concert .. can’t wait
Linda, the earplugs you can get at the drugstore reduce noise by about 30 decibels. As often as not, the mixing board engineer is wearing them too, so if you follow suit, you hear the GOOD mix.
I forgot to bring plugs when my friend Jason and I went to the P-Funk show at the Apollo last year. Not only were we both deaf for 4 days, but I was reminded that for people with MS, dizziness is always just a few paralyzed cochlear hairs away…
Worth it, though.
well, coming from a family whose middle name is DANCE – I feel that no matter what age I am, or anyone is for that matter, you should absolutely dance your heart out without shame, because a) it’s a great workout (ha) and 2) some of the best times I’ve had with family/friends have been on the dance floor. Great memories. If you can’t dance your way through life, what fun is it? My parents are 70 and 60 and they still groove like they did back in the day. And they are from the era where you actually went OUT dancing and it didn’t mean “bumping and grinding”.
speaking of workout playlists, Laura – my little IggyPod has a great workout list I’ve put together, and I dance my way through that as well – can you dance on a treadmill? without falling? It’s tough. I try. sometimes I get out of hand and trip, but at least I’m working my arms…
In Muncie Anni Danced more than I did. She’s a dancing machine.
Dancing at Los Padrinos and the Bonham and St Mary’s bar- damn, that brings back the memories- dance till the bars close then move on to someplace close (not too far to drive) and keep going! I remember this blues band played at LPs, had a semi-blind sax player who showed up on a harley- he drove down the middle of the street and counted the bumps to know when to turn! what ever happend to las tres hermanas that ran that place anyway? sold it soon after, made some money? SA scene way different now- Claude Morgan got religion, but heavy metal never dies-