2001-07-06

The Fawth o' Jool-eye

Bet you're all just dying to know how I spent my Fourth. Betcha y'are.

Cleaning, mostly. And drinking, yea.

In a fit of pique, I invited four of my very best friends over to drink margaritas and watch the Brian Wilson tribute concert on NBS, or TNT, or one of those channels we get for free with Basic Cable.

Understand that, for many years, the houseboy and I never had to hurriedly make plans for Independence Day. For us -- and indeed for many others of our tawdry, local-rocker ilk -- there was never any question of where we would be on the Fourth: we would most assuredly be spending the day drinking ourselves stupid at the home of this sultry siren and her ever-patient spouse. Alas -- they picked up and moved to Los An-ge-les, leaving us in the proverbial lurch, so to speak.

What to do? I went out and bought what I thought would be plenty of tequila the day before, only to be questioned by Kev at 4:30 on the afternoon of the Fourth: "Lees? Is that all the tequila you bought?"

"That's, like, a buttload of tequila, hon."

"Lisa. Think about who you invited."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll go to the store."

"The store" I was thinking of going to is right around the corner. While most "convenience/liquor" stores were, in fact, open for the holiday, this one was not. No problem. I figured I'd just walk a little bit further down Washington Street and pop into another. I ended up walking well into a not-so-nice section of town, where several men-on-stoops felt it their duty to inform me that I had breasts. And an ass. The things I do for my friends.

At any rate, the evening turned out to be a lovely one, even though the show itself was lame. Lame enough to be amusing, certainly, but lame nonetheless. All-around disapproval for Ricky Martin's turgid renditions of otherwise enjoyable Beach Boys songs. Was horribly, horribly disturbed at the sight of Billy Joel and Elton John swing-dancing together during the finale with all the grace and precision of a couple of grounded harp seals.

Afterwards, most folks stayed in the living room and watched "Hairspray" on video while Paula and I waxed rapturous over The Best ofRuth Brown the next room over.

Then everybody went home and I drank a lot of water and passed out. 'Twas fun.

lisamcc at 4:48 p.m.

previous | next