SIN WAGON

Last Friday, I accompanied Lolita and her rockin' mom to the Dixie Chicks concert. We took BART, which is always interesting--especially after monotonous rides on Caltrain. The first thing I noticed was the demographic attending the concert: lots of people over 60! and a good sprinkling of the LGBT community--holla!

When the lights finally went down and "Hail to the Chief" began to play, the three of us stood up, and stayed standing through the first song. An elderly man who'd left to get food came back to his seat, which was in front of us, and growled something at us about standing up! Lolita and I looked at each other in confusion--isn't this a concert? And aren't we behind him? To top it off, at the end of the song, the people behind Lolita [also elders] tapped her on the shoulder [as she was about to sit down] and asked her to sit down because she was blocking their view! I tried not to let it get to me, but I hate going to concerts where people won't let you enjoy freedom of expression when that expression is in the form of rocking out and dancing!

The show itself was more mellow than the last time I saw them, but I think they were still good. I still love Natalie--she's so spunky! They performed some oldies but goodies, and I was thrilled when they played "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Sin Wagon." Towards the end, Lolita's mom was really enjoying herself and yelling "Whooo!" The guy in front of her looked at her funny, so she just "Whooo"-ed louder. Right on!!!

As we walked back to BART, I smiled at the sight of two gay men walking with their arms around each other. They had matching hats, black shirts, and black jeans with red fringe. Little did I know that the real party would be on BART! As we waited for our train, Lolita and I noticed a cute Clark Kent-lookalike. He was tall, thin and dark-haired, with dark-rimmed glasses and a button down shirt over a t-shirt and jeans. Very cute! Once we were on our train and noticed that he was on it too, four rather portly girls who were well-marinated got on. They decided that singing was the best way for them to ride home...so what at first sounded like little kids singing turned into full-blown drunken singing...a little "Sounds of Silence," a little U2, and others which we couldn't decipher. There was a European man who looked like he was going home from the airport sitting across from us, and my first thought was, "Oh no! He's probably thinking 'typical obnoxious americans!'" One man who was sitting about three rows up from them switched seats further up in the car, mumbling "I'm trying to sleep, man." They finally exited the train singing "Goodbye Earl." How appropriate...