Post-Phoenix and Snow
Jan. 15th, 2006 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billeylerWe took the LONG route to Phoenix on Friday...nearly 9 hours through the mountain roads, with VERY few stretches where we could enjoy cruise control. We did enjoy the trip up, but it did get long, especially the trip from the Beeline Highway down Shea Blvd, from 142nd St to SR 51 (about 18 miles of stop and go traffic to about where 19th street would be). And driving the last hour with the sun-blindness down that zaggy expressway from 5000 feet to 1200 feet can cause some pretty good adrenalin-rushes! Landed at the pot-luck 15 minutes before the theoretical start of the dance at 7. Of course, Betsy and Jerry were pretty much ready to call at 7, but the first tip didn't start till after 7:30, when the heavily-fed dancers staggered into the initial 1/2 hour all-skate.
Ah, being in warm temps again...70 feels VERY warm from this vantage point!
The dances were "just okay" with "Caller A" doing "Caller A's" usual two-note patter calling at floor level, and "Caller B" doing "Caller B's" trick-the-dancer moves from the first moment on, jovially crashing the floor and causing confidence levels to immediately plummet. There was some really good choreo in there, but the Mainstream was a bit more advanced than the hall could handle.
The dance halls, as usual, felt too large and antiseptic for the group. I think there were maybe 80 or so at the fly-in, and the two large gymnasium style rooms at the elementary school swallow up the dancers. Generally, with a max of 3 squares dancing in either room, it was just...vast. "Caller B" jokingly identified either me or Danny a few too many times on the mike to be funny, but we just smiled and went with it. It keeps ME from doing it to people from the microphone, since I learn from other's shenanigans.
One of the first things I heard was that Phoenix was going to start trading off with Tucson for fly-in years. Not a bad plan...there was a good turnout from Tucson, with a LOT more energy from their nearly-secret club than I have ever seen. It's 90 minutes south of Phoenix, so I'm sure if we go next year, we'll fly. There's an 8 hour route from Albuquerque, but I don't think I can face that drive again. I'm already dreading the 7 hours to Denver next month, having to take another vacation day.
Two of our new Mainstream dancers, Lois and Leann drove to the flyin. I don't think I've ever paid more attention to our newer dancers than I did this weekend...I made sure they got in every tip they could, and introduced them around, so they wouldn't feel out of place. I think they might be the future of the Wilde Bunch, because of their enthusiasm, so I'm definitely encouraging that. Lois did particularly well, and some of us helped workshop a few of the less familiar calls for them to help them on. I know they had a good time, both at the c/w they did and the general Mainstream dancing. Of course, they could only dance 50% of the tips at the flyin proper, and 1/3 of the dances at the GCA afternoon, and they DID notice that...it's a prevalent problem we have to encourage the new dancers to come to dances, but don't offer them much floor time. It's a conundrum.
There were at least four dancers there that I find hard to handle at the best of times, but this particular weekend, all went pretty well. Maybe I'm just getting more mellow in my dotage and I didn't let their just BEING there get to me. There was one woman though on the first night that smelled HORRIBLE. She was my partner, and I ran from the square to find fresh air as soon as it was over. I think she belongs to Phoenix and is about the most unpleasant person to be around I've ever seen. Gawd. Interestingly, I found it a lot of fun to dance with the one that some San Franciscans call the WAE. There were some clumsy moments, but overall, he did pretty well in his dancing, and certainly has a smile and twinkle that many don't. I think he's completely unaware of the animosity he draws from many of the San Fran dancers.
After the Saturday dance, we all congregated back at Gordon's for the "dish." Ed Zeigler from San Fran, Cricket and Dennis from KC, Danny and me...we all subtly pumped Gordon for info on this new b/f he has...who was several hours from showing up at his house for the weekend. We got the info that his b/f is involved somehow in Christian gospel music and had three kids, barely in their teens. Scratched my (new buzzed) head over that one, but in the conversations, we also got the clue that Gordon is detaching himself from square dancing...I bet within a year, he'll have done a Steffani, and if he dances at all or is INVOLVED at all in gay square dancing, it will be for an annual Harlan-style appearance at convention just to rack up the annual tally. I suspect Peel-Off will be a thing of the past, too, but that's just a guess.
We did have a great time...I do have to say that. The housemates helped make it a lot of fun, from the South Mountain dancing, to the tired visit to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, to the chinese fast food dinner, to the self-after party in Gordon's hot tub.
Oh, and we DID meet the Gordon b/f, Paisley. Jury is still out on this one, but he is talented and energetic and witty and....well, maybe not YET 'one-of-us' but maybe will be. I'm wishing Gordon the best of luck on it, since they are planning on moving in together in the very near future. Thom is still in the picture as a 'recent ex,' and I didn't really see any of the bitterness that Gordon implied from the relationship dissolution.
We didn't attempt anything to do with the rodeo, and certainly didn't attempt to make it to Charlie's on Saturday night for dancing, altho we did take all our duds and boots with us. Relaxing was in the cards. A lot of people did go the the rodeo, and they must have had a good time. The weather for the weekend couldn't have been ANY MORE PERFECT than it was. 70s, dry, calm. Couldn't have asked for more.
I am a little curious to see what the renovated Charlie's looks like, but we never ended up there. There was a lot of forced renovation that almost caused it not to be open for rodeo weekend, since the new light-rail was cutting right through the streetside part of the building, but I have to admit that I ended up like the location and dance-ability and feel the Lesbian bar, The Cash Inn, we were at for the Sunday GCA afternoon a LOT more than Charlie's old-style. REAL parquet dance floor and happy women bartenders, rather than warped plywood and hungover male bartenders.
There was a full contingent of GCA callers for Sunday, including Michael Levy, Kris Jensen, Chuck from Tucson (a very new caller with a big fan club and huge room for improvement), Betsy (in town till Tuesday, so she and Roy stuck in there), Alan H from Colorado, Seth doing his usual low-key quiet MCing. I did call a couple of tips, and they didn't seem to be a disaster.
One thing I notice most about the Phoenix flyin is that they are intent on heavily feeding the dancers and then throwing them on the dance floor...usually late for starting. Wonder why all that is.
Anyway, it really was delightful to visit with friends old and new, in case I was sounding pessimistic. 23 years of dancing might be doing that to me. Cricket has been a good friend for almost 18 years now, and Dennis is fast becoming a close friend.
The drive back, we chose to take the freeways only to shorten the trip. There were a couple of nervous moments after dark when we hit snow flurries here and there from Flagstaff east, but nothing ever stuck. It's really cool having an outside thermometer in the car, I can't even TELL you. And having the Saturn VUE with the V6 with oomph that takes any hill or mountain with ease made the drive much much better than any car I've ever had.
So, closing this chapter, wondering if any of the Phoenix old-guard will be involved in 2007, I'll be heading to bed soon, happy and tired, with a full Monday ahead of us.
Ah, being in warm temps again...70 feels VERY warm from this vantage point!
The dances were "just okay" with "Caller A" doing "Caller A's" usual two-note patter calling at floor level, and "Caller B" doing "Caller B's" trick-the-dancer moves from the first moment on, jovially crashing the floor and causing confidence levels to immediately plummet. There was some really good choreo in there, but the Mainstream was a bit more advanced than the hall could handle.
The dance halls, as usual, felt too large and antiseptic for the group. I think there were maybe 80 or so at the fly-in, and the two large gymnasium style rooms at the elementary school swallow up the dancers. Generally, with a max of 3 squares dancing in either room, it was just...vast. "Caller B" jokingly identified either me or Danny a few too many times on the mike to be funny, but we just smiled and went with it. It keeps ME from doing it to people from the microphone, since I learn from other's shenanigans.
One of the first things I heard was that Phoenix was going to start trading off with Tucson for fly-in years. Not a bad plan...there was a good turnout from Tucson, with a LOT more energy from their nearly-secret club than I have ever seen. It's 90 minutes south of Phoenix, so I'm sure if we go next year, we'll fly. There's an 8 hour route from Albuquerque, but I don't think I can face that drive again. I'm already dreading the 7 hours to Denver next month, having to take another vacation day.
Two of our new Mainstream dancers, Lois and Leann drove to the flyin. I don't think I've ever paid more attention to our newer dancers than I did this weekend...I made sure they got in every tip they could, and introduced them around, so they wouldn't feel out of place. I think they might be the future of the Wilde Bunch, because of their enthusiasm, so I'm definitely encouraging that. Lois did particularly well, and some of us helped workshop a few of the less familiar calls for them to help them on. I know they had a good time, both at the c/w they did and the general Mainstream dancing. Of course, they could only dance 50% of the tips at the flyin proper, and 1/3 of the dances at the GCA afternoon, and they DID notice that...it's a prevalent problem we have to encourage the new dancers to come to dances, but don't offer them much floor time. It's a conundrum.
There were at least four dancers there that I find hard to handle at the best of times, but this particular weekend, all went pretty well. Maybe I'm just getting more mellow in my dotage and I didn't let their just BEING there get to me. There was one woman though on the first night that smelled HORRIBLE. She was my partner, and I ran from the square to find fresh air as soon as it was over. I think she belongs to Phoenix and is about the most unpleasant person to be around I've ever seen. Gawd. Interestingly, I found it a lot of fun to dance with the one that some San Franciscans call the WAE. There were some clumsy moments, but overall, he did pretty well in his dancing, and certainly has a smile and twinkle that many don't. I think he's completely unaware of the animosity he draws from many of the San Fran dancers.
After the Saturday dance, we all congregated back at Gordon's for the "dish." Ed Zeigler from San Fran, Cricket and Dennis from KC, Danny and me...we all subtly pumped Gordon for info on this new b/f he has...who was several hours from showing up at his house for the weekend. We got the info that his b/f is involved somehow in Christian gospel music and had three kids, barely in their teens. Scratched my (new buzzed) head over that one, but in the conversations, we also got the clue that Gordon is detaching himself from square dancing...I bet within a year, he'll have done a Steffani, and if he dances at all or is INVOLVED at all in gay square dancing, it will be for an annual Harlan-style appearance at convention just to rack up the annual tally. I suspect Peel-Off will be a thing of the past, too, but that's just a guess.
We did have a great time...I do have to say that. The housemates helped make it a lot of fun, from the South Mountain dancing, to the tired visit to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, to the chinese fast food dinner, to the self-after party in Gordon's hot tub.
Oh, and we DID meet the Gordon b/f, Paisley. Jury is still out on this one, but he is talented and energetic and witty and....well, maybe not YET 'one-of-us' but maybe will be. I'm wishing Gordon the best of luck on it, since they are planning on moving in together in the very near future. Thom is still in the picture as a 'recent ex,' and I didn't really see any of the bitterness that Gordon implied from the relationship dissolution.
We didn't attempt anything to do with the rodeo, and certainly didn't attempt to make it to Charlie's on Saturday night for dancing, altho we did take all our duds and boots with us. Relaxing was in the cards. A lot of people did go the the rodeo, and they must have had a good time. The weather for the weekend couldn't have been ANY MORE PERFECT than it was. 70s, dry, calm. Couldn't have asked for more.
I am a little curious to see what the renovated Charlie's looks like, but we never ended up there. There was a lot of forced renovation that almost caused it not to be open for rodeo weekend, since the new light-rail was cutting right through the streetside part of the building, but I have to admit that I ended up like the location and dance-ability and feel the Lesbian bar, The Cash Inn, we were at for the Sunday GCA afternoon a LOT more than Charlie's old-style. REAL parquet dance floor and happy women bartenders, rather than warped plywood and hungover male bartenders.
There was a full contingent of GCA callers for Sunday, including Michael Levy, Kris Jensen, Chuck from Tucson (a very new caller with a big fan club and huge room for improvement), Betsy (in town till Tuesday, so she and Roy stuck in there), Alan H from Colorado, Seth doing his usual low-key quiet MCing. I did call a couple of tips, and they didn't seem to be a disaster.
One thing I notice most about the Phoenix flyin is that they are intent on heavily feeding the dancers and then throwing them on the dance floor...usually late for starting. Wonder why all that is.
Anyway, it really was delightful to visit with friends old and new, in case I was sounding pessimistic. 23 years of dancing might be doing that to me. Cricket has been a good friend for almost 18 years now, and Dennis is fast becoming a close friend.
The drive back, we chose to take the freeways only to shorten the trip. There were a couple of nervous moments after dark when we hit snow flurries here and there from Flagstaff east, but nothing ever stuck. It's really cool having an outside thermometer in the car, I can't even TELL you. And having the Saturn VUE with the V6 with oomph that takes any hill or mountain with ease made the drive much much better than any car I've ever had.
So, closing this chapter, wondering if any of the Phoenix old-guard will be involved in 2007, I'll be heading to bed soon, happy and tired, with a full Monday ahead of us.
