Dancing at the Country Bar

Last night - believe it or not - I drank my very first Budweiser! Never even tasted one before and I grew up just an hour or so away from the Anheiser-Bush brewery. It wasn't horrible. I might drink one again some day.

Yesterday, I filled in on a traffic reporting shift, broadcasting with a DJ I hadn't worked with in 20 years. He invited me to join him at his favorite night spot, The Little Red Hen, a country music bar in Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood. Most of the bars in this part of town are more upscale. "The Hen" has probably survived all these years because it is one of the few bars that cater to the older crowd. Lots of people my age were there. And it was clear that EVERYBODY was there to dance.

The Little Red Hen has live music 3 or 4 nights a week, all of it Country. Luckily, I used to work at KMPS for 3 and 1/2 years and am no longer shell-shocked by the sound of a steel guitar. Where else can you go to hear live music 4 nights a week - with NO cover charge? An hour before the band plays, there is a free dance lesson. Unfortunately, I missed that part. Next time (and there just MIGHT be a next time) I'll make sure to attend.

Despite that, I got asked to dance several times. 8 times, I think, and didn't do too horribly. I was surprised at the numbers of men who know how to dance and who like it. Very different from my memories. I was mesmerized by one black-hatted portly cowboy who twirled me in his arms around the parquet. He was a master, and paid no mind to the fact that I didn't know what to expect next.

Finally, ever since Seattle instituted the "no smoking in public places" ordinance, bars are much nicer places to hang out! Don't think I've been to one since they enacted that law, over 3 years ago!

Maybe I'll buy some dancing shoes. Just maybe.