And The Whole Groupie Thing Begins

Happy Monday, y'all! I hope everyone had a fun and restful weekend. Me? Aw, thanks for asking.

Fun? Yes. Restful? NEVAH!

You may remember a Dallas-area band I spoke about called the Badenders. Well, they are really starting to see some rewards for their efforts. Their cd is doing well. They are getting gigs more and more often, and they played at SXSW in Austin last week to a full-house and great reviews. Things are clickin' right along for Dan, Will, Guydon and Chris. Yay!

Last night I headed out to the House of Blues to see our little boys, er young men, being the opening act for Ben Jelen. Not a shabby gig. I had not heard of Ben Jelen before, but I was impressed enough to throw down $11 for a cd that has been playing in a constant loop in my computer today. He's quite a talent.

So, I pull up to the valet and lo and behold the little guy who parked my car about had an orgasm because as he said "these cars rock!" I was afraid for my little car's life - and had visions of the scene with the car-parkers in "Ferris Bueller," but was relieved to see my new baby parked right up front with the Porches, the Cadillac STS's and the other grownup cars. I've gotta admit - that's pretty dang cool - to see that they know good taste and reward it by parking it right up front. And no, there weren't a bunch of extra mileage on it. Oh, did I mention I bought a new car a couple of weeks ago when all hell was breaking loose in my life? No stress there...but I digress.

I bought a ticket and headed for the door when I was asked to open my purse, presumably to screen for concealed weapons and liquor. (whew, glad I didn't pack that half-gallon of vodka or my 357) To my chagrin, the woman pulled me aside as if I was a common criminal and made me hand over my - I can't believe I'm even writing this - Sharpies! My sharpies! O. M. G. How would I live without my groupie supplies? What did they think I gonna do with those? Actually, she ended up being pretty nice and explained that for the shows where the audience is pretty young, they have to confiscate sharpies, etc to curb the graffiti. Yeah, I guess I do look a little shady at times - and twitch when I have the opportunity to tag the ladies room stall doors with "CruiserMel Was Here." Evs.

Let me get this off my chest: who is dressing today's youth? And by youth, I mean 18-25 yr olds who will run this country of ours in our old age. Seriously. Do they own mirrors? Let's begin with their hair. How is it they can make their hair look so dirty? Do they cut their hair with razor blades or garden shears or do they just pull it until it breaks? And what's with letting it hang in their faces to the point where they actually can't see to walk? Or there are the others who, on this warm spring night, were wearing knit ski caps with their tshirts and shorts. Mmmmkay. If they weren't wearing shorts - they were wearing those low-rise, hip-hugger, skin-tight pants that I'm sure haven't been washed in weeks. Girls and boys. I have yet to see a human butt look halfway decent in these pants. And that low-rise just makes their bodies look like stretched noodles on really short legs. Ugh. I've become my mother. This called for a trip to the bar to clear my head of these unattractive visions.

Anyhoo, moving on.

Dan and company only got to play about 30 minutes, but it was fun to see how they've developed their live show and are really looking comfy cozy on stage now. They've even got some new songs that I'm anxiously awaiting release on cd when they do get in the studio again.

The guys did great and the crowd was into it. I even saw some lighters go up over head, old school style, among the cellphone lights.

But the fun didn't end there.

During Ben Jelen's set, Dan came rushing over to me, breathless.

Dan: "The whole groupie thing is starting!"
CM: "That's great!"
Dan: "No! I'm not ready!"
CM: "What happened? What do you mean?"
Dan: "I got, like, 5 phone numbers up at the bar."
CM: "That's a problem, how?"
Dan: "No, that's cool. But I was just standing there and this girl comes up and grabs my balls and is, like, all 'you're so precious' and well, I'm not ready for that!"
CM: *snicker*

Be careful what you wish for, Dan.