Sunday, October 23, 2005

Hey! Macarena 3

The Macarena was a no-go. Why? Because the crowd of Donauschwabens was definitely not of the butt-wiggling sort. Somehow we were misled about the relative age (and hipness) of these Hawgtown Schwabs. Methuselah would have been a spring chicken compared to most of them. Even the venerable old Bird Dance was too much for them. They sat at their tables staring at us while we played it…except for about six younger ones who pitied the poor band struggling to get old farts to show signs of life.

I’m exaggerating a little. Most of them were quite old. But as long as we played music that they liked, which meant heavy on polkas and waltzes, they danced a lot and obviously enjoyed themselves. But they were unexpectedly reserved too. I think they were too cool to be silly with the Bird Dance. Too much Schwabische dignity. I can imagine the expressions of horror if we had tried to induce them to Macarena wigglebutt.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You mean, you didn't try? To get them to wiggle-butt?

Now Larry, as we pass some age landmarks ourselves, how old is quite old????

I mean, is old those older than ourselves???? It's funny, huh, how we view age.

Larry Keiler said...

No, no wiggly attempts. It was the kind of crowd that smacked you verbally if you tried to stray outside the narrowly-defined bounds of Oktfestishness. And if the Bird Dance was too much for them, no Macarena neither.

Twenty years or so. Anybody 20 years or so older than you is old. Unless you're 16 then you don't trust anyone over 30. Unless you're Jerry Rubin or Abby Hoffman.

Or...my parents are old. Because they act that way. My uncle is older but doesn't act that way. I'm middle aged because I'm halfway to the century mark but on Mondays I feel old. Today (last Sunday of Oktober) I feel old cuz I stayed up all night. Relatively old. This is the key, no? Relativity.

Help! I've written and I can't get up!