Last night I went to Downtown Huey’s to see The Dempseys. Turned out to be a wild night.
About midway through the performance, my friend Harmony who was sitting next to me at the bar asked, “Paul, do you have your digital camera on you? Because, there’s a celebrity in here and you have an opportunity to take a picture of him. Down there at the other end of the bar, that’s Rob Corddry.”
“Really?” I asked. “Rob Corddry is in here? In our local bar, only two blocks from where I live, ROB CORDDRY is here? Oh my God!” Then I asked, “Who the hell is Rob Corddry?”
Harmony explained that he’s a former correspondent for The Daily Show and he got his start as a comedian with the Upright Citizens Brigade. “He was one of the funniest, most satirical correspondents on The Daily Show,” Harmony told me. “Why don’t you go down there and talk to him? I’m sure he’d let you take a photo.”
“What am I supposed to say?” I responded. “‘Hi Rob, I don’t know who the hell you are, but I’d like to take a picture of you’? I don’t think so.” So I gave Harmony a quick lesson in how to operate my camera and she took it down to his end of the bar. A few minutes later she brought him over and I snapped this pic:
Meanwhile, The Dempseys were having fun on stage. At one point Brad put his guitar down and told the others, “I’m sorry, guys, but I gotta do this,” and proceeded to do The Worm on Huey’s wood floor. He actually did it very well too, reminding me of the late ’90s when WWE wrestler Scotty 2 Hotty used to do The Worm in the ring during his matches.
Later in the evening, the band broke into a Poison song. Now, it’s normal for them to start riffing the first few bars of Metallica or Skynyrd or something like that and then breaking off and saying “Just kidding, folks,” or “that’s all we know.” But last night they played the Poison song ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Remember, this is a ROCKABILLY band. I guess if the rockabilly thing doesn’t work out for them, they could have a second career as a heavy metal/hair band. There’s probably an opportunity for a Hair Club For Men sponsorship in there somewhere.
They did a medley of songs about cities, states, counties, and towns. Of course, I’ve been to so many of their shows that I know the medley all the way through… the last song is Marty Robbins’ “Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl.” I like to sing along but I change the lyrics to, “Out in the Mid-Southern town of Memphis, I fell in love with Romanian girls.”
Here are a few photos of The Dempseys doing their usual thing:
When the band was on break, Huey’s had the music turned to the Led Zeppelin channel on whatever radio service they subscribe to. Or maybe they had all Zeppelin CDs in the player, don’t know. Whatever the case, my compliments to the person who selected the music.
Also during break, I noticed Sharp Dressed Bum wander through on three separate occasions. He’d walk in the front door, use the restroom, and then walk back out. People who had come in recently told me that he was standing outside, begging for money. When he came in the next time, I alerted the bartender. “Do you know that guy?” I asked. The bartender said no. “He’s a bum! He’s not in here to order anything. He’s been outside panhandling.” That was all the bartender needed to hear. He got the manager, and Sharp Dressed Bum was kicked out of Huey’s. Hopefully they’ll remember him and not let him come back.
Due to the cold weather, Sharp Dressed Bum hasn’t been looking so sharp lately. He’s been wearing one of those navy knit caps with white snowflakes on it that ties up under the chin, and a brown coat. I’ve been seeing him walk down Second every night about 11 PM, and up Third every morning about 7:45 AM. I wonder if S.D.B. has a J.O.B.? I find that hard to believe though.
Here’s one more pic, my attempt at artistic photography:
It’s a picture of the inside of a beer glass, with Huey’s neon lights reflecting off the beer. Far out, man! Psychedelic! Trippy!
Taking a day off work to get some personal projects done… really, I can’t do anything at work until two different meetings get set up, so there wouldn’t have been much to do there anyway. Microsoft is sending some engineers down here tomorrow and Wednesday for question-and-answer sessions about Visual Studio 2005, Active Directory, SharePoint Services, SQL Server, and anything else we want to ask. Microsoft is even catering lunch for us tomorrow. Looking forward to that.
Also looking forward to tonight, when I have a meeting scheduled at The Majestic Grille. Anytime I can find an excuse to eat at the Majestic, it’s a good thing.
That’ll do it for now… see you later, still have plenty to blog about, just have to find the time.