St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday was officially St. Patrick's Day - March 17 - a Monday. For most of the average Joes, I suppose this meant less - if any - green beer during their celebrations. Many, however, celebrated during the weekend prior, avoiding green beer hangovers for the workweek.

This was the case at many of the local bars. My husband and some of his/our friends went out on Saturday night (I can't even tell you the last time I went out drinking 3 nights in a row! Avery was at Grandma & Grandpa's for the weekend...). We first found ourselves at our usual stomping ground, Applebee's. Most of the guys present enjoy heavy thrasher metal music, and SOP, a band with local roots, was playing in town that night.

We mosied to Rick's at approximately 11:30. Yes...that was Rick's - just in case you thought it might be a typo. First of all, I rarely wear anything more dressy than a shirt and jeans - and NEVER high heels - my feet aren't made to accommodate them for more than 20 minutes or so. Saturday night, of course, what do I wear??? Dressy, flowy black top, jeans, and 3-inch heels!

Now, that may not seem especially stand-outish. Until you consider what everyone ELSE was wearing at Rick's. Oil-stained, dusty jeans, ripped button-down trucker shirts, smelly utility jackets, more facial hair than the entire 1970's American male population, and either skinned heads or MOHAWKS!!! Oh - and let us NOT forget the "Louder Than FUCK" T-shirts that evidently support the growling singers who make up SOP. Let me tell ya, the t-shirts were frightening, but they were definitely accurate.

Ok - back to the whole point of this story: Celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Close to the end of the evening, the band took a short break from their performance. A man from the crowd (whom we were slightly convinced must know the bandmembers) went onstage, STRIPPED!!!, allowed himself to be smeared with Creme de Menthe, and was sent running across the parking lot to a neighboring bar -- just to say hello and run back! NAKED!!

I have now seen a man strip...and let's just also make sure that I add this to your mental picture: Sticky, green-tinted, pale, North Dakotan skin, a dark green 4-inch long mohawk, an amazing amount of piercings, all found on a man who was howling in an excited, drunken stupor.

Not exactly the sexy, male stripper experience I imagined I might someday witness.