Last night, Jen and I headed out to Mickey Rats to see the Jackdaw boys along with a band they brought with them from a show in Cleveland the night before. Since we were a little bit late, we only caught the end of the first band’s set, but they were very cool. Check out the Kissers.

Mickey Rats is a “beach club” on the lake in Angola. It is a place I would not be likely to frequent, but to see my favorite Celtic rockers.

We walked up to the entrance, and the bouncer held out his hand, waiting to see my id. I handed it to him, and he stood there, staring at it, for what seemed like ten minutes. He squinted, scanning the license for…something. He held it up next to my face.

“1974?”

“Yep,” I said.

He looked at the license again.

“I’m 1971, and I’m old.”

“Well, I guess I’m old too.”

Random guy standing near the door says, “Wow, you look really good.”

So, what do MOST 30-year-olds look like? Hmmm. Anyway…

We enter, and accidentally wander to the right instead of the left, and end up in the wrong club. (There are two, connected to each other…) There’s a small dance floor, some awful hip hop dance music is playing, and one lonely old guy is on the dance floor.

“Jen,” I said, “We need to be on the other side. This is not where the band is playing.”

So we go through the bar, outside to the back deck, and around to the other side. Ah, there’s the band. Good. The Kissers are on the stage. I see some familiar faces. I also see quite a few trucker hats.

Jen says, “You know you’re at Mickey Rats when you see people wearing trucker hats and they’re not trying to be cool.”

Heh.

A couple of girls walk by who are way overdressed. Little strapless dresses and strappy sandals.

“What are they wearing?” I say. “That’s a little much.”

“Well, where else are they going to go?” Jen says. “It’s like the Chippewa of Angola.”

“Yeah, but most of the people here are wearing normal–”

And then I saw them. The leather couple. Complete with fringe!

David saw Jen and me, and came over to greet us. The Kissers finished their set with a cover of “Teenage Wasteland” (which was very cool) and another song that I didn’t know. As soon as the band was finished, the DJ put on some tunes. A few minutes later, a group of about three girls (one of them looking a little like Cameron Diaz, only not as cute) and one crazy dancing guy.

Now, let me just say that I had been ready to get my groove on since about 8, when “Hella Good” played on my Real Player.

So crazy dancing guy sees me kind of bopping to the music, and encourages me to come and dance with him and his friends. The girls are doing that silly grinding girl-on-girl thing that I find so annoying…except, apparently, when dancing on the bar at Roxy’s. Er…anyway…

“Footloose” comes on, and crazy dancing guy is just getting the Kevin Bacon thing ALL wrong. Probably because he’s too young. So I have to show him how it’s done. 😉

Then, thankfully, the Jackdaw boys come out. I’m standing between Jen and this girl Tina that I know from the shows. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this couple comes and stands directly in front of us. The woman is wearing white capri pants with a loud black pattern. The guy has a mullet. And then…white pants lady and mullet boy started to grind. Ack! My eyes!

Our good friend David seemed to have a fan club forming…a little group of girls alternated taking photos of him with the same camera. I could just imagine the conversation.

“Here, you do it.”

“No, you.”

“I just went up there. It’s your turn.”

(in unison) “Hee hee hee.”

Immediately following Joe Davies’ way cool fiddle solo, David said “Dude, if I was wearing underwear, I’d throw them at you.” Hee. And also, ew. 😉

At some point, I went into the ladies’ room and got incredibly annoyed by the very, very young girls talking about their sexual encounters.

“Well, yeah, I slept with him, but I didn’t give it up right away. I made him wait, like, a month.”

(puff on cigarette. fluff hair)

Me: exit bathroom quickly.

During the break, the music started again, and some strange man stopped behind me on his way to the bathroom.

“Watch out, that guy’s dancing with you,” Jen said.

I turned and looked behind me.

“Sorry. I’m really not dangerous,” he said. Heh.

During the second set, I had my personal space invaded a bit by the guy behind me (eek!). I was very happy that the boys played “Proofrock,” but somewhat disappointed that they didn’t play “Sorry Again.” (sigh…probably better for me that way!) The guys had the Kissers join them on stage for a cover of “Sunny Side of the Street” by the Pogues, which was very fun.

As soon as they were finished, the DJ started up again. With some Def Leppard! Whoo! I loves my 80s hair bands. I got all excited and started dancing, which gave some guy the inclination to start talking to me.

“Is this Motley Crue?”

“No, it’s Def Leppard. Pour Some Sugar on Me?”

I chatted politely for a few minutes, and then told him we had to go. Jen, not quite getting it yet, said, “I thought you wanted to listen to the song?”

So we left, but not without a brief spin around the dance floor (hee) and a hug from David. Being friends with the guys in the band is cool.

“That dumb guy totally saw that,” Jen said.

Is that evil? 😉