Sidetrip Photos
>>
This section is dedicated to a portion of my vacation that will probably be of limited interest to most everyone except a small circle of my friends.
It does, however, involve an excursion away from Austin, a digital camera, some minor trespassing and at least one amusing sign. Caveat surfer.
If you have no interest in being an accessory after the fact, you may skip to Monday night's recollections. Otherwise... Monday, March 13 -- A Sidetrip This takes a bit of explaining. You see, it's a been a Tuesday tradition for the past three years or so for me and a group of my friends to gather at The Loading Zone, a St. Louis nightclub for "Showtunes Tuesdays," which is essentially an excuse to drink domestic beer, catch up on gossip, watch videos of Broadway and movie showtunes and sing along with our favorites.
Among the aforementioned favorites is "The Aggie Song" from the 1982 movie adaptation of the 1978 Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Now, over the years I've been a habitue of the Loading Zone, our fascination with this one song from this one musical has grown. What began as simply singing along has evolved into, on occasion, certain of our crowd re-enacting the choreography inasmuch is possible in a crowded barroom.
For the uninitiated, the scene from the movie is this: the Texas Aggie football team from Texas A&M University, has just won the big game and, in celebration, will be treated to a an all-expenses paid night at The Chicken Ranch, the "whorehouse" of the title.
"The Aggie Song" is a jubilant dance number performed in the post-game lockerroom by the football players in anticipation of their night's...ahem, entertainment. What follows, then, is the guys shucking their football helmets, pads and uniforms, singing in the shower, and then getting dressed, culminating in a three-minute dance routine that includes tapping and leaping in brocade shirts and cowboy boots.
You can see, I think, why this might be popular in a gay nightclub.
(For the record, I've been an Aggie fan for quite a while, even for reasons having nothing to do with the movie or this song. They're a heckuva scrappy team and, in 1998, took their division championship in a series of incredible games. I have another reason for liking the movie, though. A dear old friend -- now deceased -- was one of the Aggie dancers. He never played so much as backyard touch football, but damn could that boy flat dance!)
My mission for the day became to visit the Texas A&M campus (about an hour and a half drive from Austin, in College Station), to bring back some Aggie swag and see if I might catch a glimpse of the real-life football legends that have become a part of our Tuesday tradition.
I made out a lot better than I'd hoped.
Quote of the Day: "So, what brings y'all down here today?" -- Susan, the sales clerk at the University Bookstore where I was buying armloads of Aggie memorabelia. I told her more or less the entire story outlined above. She giggled and said, "That may be the most interesting answer I've ever had to that question." May be?
<< Back Sidetrip Photos >>