February 9, 2011

HAT TIPS

Hello,

There is a movie out called “I’m Just Not That Into You.”  I haven’t seen it. Most likely won’t. Still plan on going to “True Grit,” but that’s about as far as my movie desires go. Or maybe I’ll just wait until it is on TV.
But, as I reflect on the Super Bowl, I guess you could say that I just wasn’t that into it. Unlike hundreds of millions of people across the globe, I didn’t really care who won. Sorry. But it was a pretty good game, and someone won. The ads were alright, but mostly I was waiting for the halftime show. The Black Eyed Peas. Really, some singers called the Black Eyed Peas.
Now, I guess I must be more of a recluse than a lot of people. I wouldn’t have known the Black Eyed Peas from black-eyed Susans or split pea soup. But all week people had been raving about the Peas being the half-time show. So, I anxiously awaited.
Oh, it was quite a production. Hundreds of dancers. Some kind of singers. Nothing that kept me glued to the screen. I’m just not that into rap or whatever it was. I did kind of like the song about “it’s going to be a good night.” At some bull ridings I announce, they play that before the bull riding. I can even sing along a little, except for the high notes. But that was about it.
Maybe it’s just that I’m not much into music concerts. The last concert I went to was Buck Owens (I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail) in the early or mid-sixties at the Municipal Auditorium in Minot. Now that was music. They just don’t make them like that anymore. But I don’t remember the dancing like this show had. But then again, there is a lot I don’t remember about the past fifty years. Or even the past fifty hours.
Oh, yes, and the dancers. I could never decide if they were dancers or acrobats. And they were really well lit. But I tell you what; they couldn’t hold a candle to Milo and Julie doing the polka in the Bahamas. Or the waltzing on the Lawrence Welk show. In fact in the middle of Split-Pea Soup, I switched over and watched the Lawrence Welk show. Lawrence even shook a leg with Sissy, or Missy, or whatever her name is.
I guess the best dance I ever saw was in the late eighties in Shawnee, Okla. At the National High School Rodeo Finals. The Bellamy Brothers (If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me). Boy, they don’t make songs like that anymore.
At the Finals, one night they have live entertainment for the contestants and parents at the arena. And it had rained a tremendous amount. The arena looked like a lake. A lake of red Oklahoma mud. They had a big tractor pull the flatbed trailers for the stage into the arena. It was a red, muddy mess. And the Bellamy Brothers were the act. Now, the Bellamy Brothers are cowboys and ranchers from Florida. You know them. “I’m an Old Hippie” and classics like that.
The high school contestants are required to wear white shirts, blue jeans, and their back numbers at these special events. The Bellamy Brothers began their first set of songs. A couple of exuberant youth crawled over the fence, and started dancing in that arena mud. A couple more brave souls scaled the fence. The other 1,200 high school kids saw that nobody was going to get tasered or tear gassed, and the stampede was on. 1,200 kids clambering down the grandstand steps, piling over the fence, and dancing in foot deep red mud to the songs of the Bellamy’s! With parents and chaperones laughing, clapping, and enjoying the sight. It was wonderful. A lasting memory.
So, you fans of String Beans and Lentils. Sorry, I’m just not that into it.

Later,
Dean

WATFORD CITY WEATHER