Do-Wacka-Do

Though my ability to booze into the wee hours and still show up for work the next morning has been compromised by the passage of days, I decided to hit the Carousel Lounge for Thursday's Roger Miller Hoot Nite. It was a packed and chatty house, which meant some of the quieter acts got washed out by crowd noise in the absence of a sound system. I couldn't help but contribute to this by having a good man-rap at the bar with Steve Hunt while his lady friend (and my grad school-era ex) Rebecca Cannon enthusiastically belted out "You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd" with the Sapphires.

Then Roger Wallace galvanized the crowd with "Dang Me" and the lesser-known tearjerker, "The Last Word In Lonesome Is Me." Wallace's classic country vocal phrasing is both free-flowing and inpeccable. He's been receiving positive notice about town for many years now, but I'm embarrassed to say this was the first time I've seen him play. It won't be the last.

The show ended with almost everyone in the bar singing and snapping along to "King Of The Road," which was one of those awesome, greased groove moments in time that keeps me from becoming a sallow-faced existentialist bastard. You can't get that sort of thing from NBC's Thursday night line-up anymore.