An urban cowboy bellies up at the Midnight Rodeo
If I ever find myself divorced with three kids and looking for a man, I just might hire myself a babysitter and head on down to the Midnight Rodeo on Ben White Blvd. in South Austin. Well drinks are cheap, barbeque free, and the throngs of people there know how to line dance.
The beautiful bride-to-be Kelly Hass (white blouse) joins the line dance.
Country purists be warned: you won’t hear any Hank Sr. here. The DJ is as likely to blast 50 Cent or Lil Wayne as Brooks & Dunn.
At the Midnight Rodeo recently for a friend’s engagement party, I asked Peter Wagner (lead singer of The Mercers, a band to watch), “What’s up with the hip hop?”
Peter explained to me that in lots of “country” bars, late at night the DJ swaps out the country for hip hop; and the dancers stop two-steppin’ and start booty shakin’. In fact, Peter said, hip hop culture is influencing Top Forty country music in lots of ways.
“Nashville country is even appropriating the language of hip hop,” Peter continued. “Like in the country song ‘Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.’”
“What’s a badonkadonk?” I asked, sheepish at my ignorance.
“It’s a hiphop term for a big old booty,” Peter said.
Oh, of course.
So if you’re tired of the authenticity of country bars like the Broken Spoke, or Ginny’s Little Longhorn, take your badonkadonk on down to the Midnight Rodeo and have yourself a good ol’ time.
Peter Wagner, Joe Lightbody, Casey Harverstick, Jonathan Vandestreek (groom-to-be), Aaron McIntyre celebrate at the Midnight Rodeo
NOTE: There are also Midnight Rodeo locations in San Antonio and Amarillo.
It’s hard to beat when the drink prices are circa 1970. Good times and terribly easy on the wallet.