Early to Bed? Notsomuch

Saturday night was a fine ending to good week.

• Saturday night at 7 pm, Wife and I went to a Big Band Dance at Centennial Park. Back when she was Girl Friend, Wife and I went to a few dances in high school and college, but there wasn’t really a lot of dancing—mostly talking to people and each other, swaying around a bit, and “Hey, wanna go make out?” But we would like to be able to actually know how to dance, so I had the idea of going to a Centennial Park dance. We (including the Boy and the Girl) watched YouTube videos about swing dancing all week to try to get somewhat ready, and Saturday night they had a quick 30 minute swing dance lesson before the main dance event started. It was a warm evening and we were pretty sweaty out there. We certainly wouldn’t have won any swing dancing awards, either. But the main point of it was that we got out there and did it and had a good time of it together.
• We left Centennial Park at around 8:30 pm, because we hadn’t eaten supper yet, and we needed to get over to the Basement for the Daddy CD release party. We ate at Brown’s Diner at 12th Avenue and Blair because we felt too sweaty and smelly to go anywhere else.
• We arrived at the Basement at around 9:30 pm in time to catch the end of Amanda Shire’s show. I guess Daddy took the stage at around 10pm and played until just before midnight. It was a fine show and we hung around a bit afterwards and talked to Tommy Womack, Lisa Gray, and Paul Griffith. There were baby shower decorations scattered around the Basement, and Mary Sack passed out cupcakes at one point in the evening. Paul Griffith had put us on the guest list, which was cool because I’ve never been on a guest list before, even though I would have been happy to pay the $10 x 2 cover.

Backing up a bit, Friday night we attempted to see Todd Snider’s in-store at Grimey’s but we were turned away because Wife was topless and drunk. No, that’s not right at all—I just wanted to get your attention. Grimey’s was full! Just as we walked up, a Grimey’s employee came out and announced that they were at capacity and that no, they weren’t going to leave the door open. We were welcome to stand outside. Given the heat, we decided to just go back home. Bummer, but oh well.

Tuesday night we were able to make into Grimey’s for the Daddy in-store. We enjoyed the show. Those Grimey’s in-stores are always fun. It’s amazing to me how the band is able to fit into that little space over in the vinyl section. I asked Paul Griffith which was smaller, the playing are at Grimey’s or the stage at Norm’s River Road House. His answer: The stage at the Family Wash.

Good times.