|
| |
 | |
A visit to Kansas City
DRUNKEN NIGHTS
Of course, what would any vacation be without blowing off some steam over an ample amount of alcohol? With Jodie and the Golden Girls in tow, a good time is never far away.
My first night in Kansas City was spent at Harrah's Casino watching some dreadful karaoke tempered with guessing the song as the 'performers' took the stage. The Casino was filled with the typical sleaze you'd expect - buxom waitresses
wearing tight, short leather skirts that resembled fruit roll ups. Outside the stage sat "Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill", decked out in American colors and inexplicably playing football games on TV in the middle of July. Throughout the night our gathered masses sat on the sidelines and heckled the performers, host and judges, trying to pick the song from the performer's outfits. I was the only one who guessed right - with the easy pick of Toby Keith winning the night. Jodie's cousin sang a respectable version of 'Redneck
Woman', but didn't win the contest at the end of the night.
|
| |
|
Jodie insisted on Mad Dog being part of the nightly ritual, a deadly throwback to our overdone days in art school. Beyond that small hurdle, the nights were a blast - honest, clean, drinking fun, with plenty of laughs and a steady parade of odd characters hitting on the triumvirate of girls I was flanked by every night.
The nights went long and hard - shots were generously placed in front of the four of us with alarming regularity, rounds of drinks kept disappearing faster and faster - the juke box was filled with a bizarre assortment of pop hits that depended heavily on the folks who got it first.
And so, in stark contrast to the days I'd spend with Gen and Corey and the children, the heavy drinking and late night hours created a schizophrenic shift from day to day throughout the week. By the end of my ten days in KC, I was pretty much a wasted set of nerves and dreamed of my own bed for some much needed rest and relaxation. |
 |
A bizarre Mad Dog stand-in, straight outta the liquor section of your local gas station. |
Aretha Franklin's
"Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" | 
Belting out New York, New York while hailing from Kansas City, Kansas |
Excitement was hard to come by at the karaoke competition. | 
The KC Wizards' Nick Garcia was a celebrity judge - we heckled him for not being good enough to help out the US team in Germany - and he seemed to be
debating whether he'd be a better fit in France or Spain. | 
NASCAR fans aren't the brightest in the bunch, and either beer advertisers pander to this, or are no better. |
It's inevitable Wham will make its way onto the stereo at some ungodly hour... | 
..only to be followed by some gangster rap.... |
...and some serious posing. |
|
