She-Males and a Rock Star

Last night I went out with two friends, just to get a drink and a pincho de tortilla, and afterwards we decided to have a little walk, since it was only 11:30 and the night was still young (on Wednesday...life here is so weird sometimes).

We came across a concert/party thing in the middle of a small plaza. I had seen them setting up earlier in the day but had no idea what it was for, and now, around midnight, the plaza was full of people jumping up and down to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", even though most of the people there had no idea what the words meant (not that we native English speakers have the slightest clue either). I tried to translate for Rosi but I didn't know the verb for "to entertain," which is kind of a key word in the chorus so I had to give up (it turns out to be "entretener." I should have known it would be that easy). Besides, you can't really understand much of what he's saying anyway other than "here we are now, entertain us, I feel stupid and contagious."

I just looked up the lyrics to the song. Does anybody have any clue what he's talking about? I think he must have been high when he wrote that. That's what my dad always said when I would ask him about what some song they played on KLUV meant. He would say something like, "it doesn't mean anything; those hippies were high when they wrote that." That's what he said about "American Pie." That Don McLean got high and all sentimental and wrote that song. But I'm digressing.

So the three of us decided to hang out there for a while and enjoy the music. We found a little spot at the back of the crowd near some people of questionable genders* and bounced along to the music. One she-male in particular put his/her hand on my back very gently in the polite kind of way that you do when you need to squeeze by somebody in a crowd. But it wasn't necessary to touch me to squeeze by, because we were at the back of the crowd and there was plenty of space. Personally I think it was because he/she saw me looking at him/her with curiosity, because, like Heather, this was the first real live she-male I'd ever seen up close (besides just passing them on the street) and I was asking myself medical questions in my head and became unaware that I was staring. And when he/she saw me staring, I smiled a bit (to be polite of course, because while I may not agree with his/her choices he/she was still created in the image of God and God has filled me with only love for people that years ago I would have tried to avoid) and then politely turned back to my friends. So I think the hand on my back was his/her way of saying to me, "I saw you staring, and it's okay sweetie." At least that's what I'm going to believe. And I'm quite sure that he/she would have called me sweetie, at least if he/she spoke English.

Then suddenly Rosi got really fired up about something.

"See that redheaded woman over there?"

I'm looking around. I don't see any redheads per se, but there is a woman with long, very orange hair within an arm's reach of me.

"You mean the one right here in the black dress?"

"Yeah. That's Alaska!"

"Alaska?" I knew a girl in T-Camp that everybody called Alaska, but that was because she was actually from Alaska.

Well it turns out that this Alaska lady is a super-famous rock star here. She was of the first punk-rock musicians here in the 70's and 80's. So then they started playing her songs, and EVERYBODY was singing along at the top of their lungs, except for me, Amir (also a foreigner and therefore clueless like myself), and Alaska herself. I stood there and stared at her for a bit. She's a very interesting looking lady. And she has a surprisingly deep voice. I wonder what it must be like to be surrounded by people all singing along to the song that you wrote 20 years ago when most of these people were just kids.

Later in life Alaska changed to techno, and I must say that while the punk-rock songs I heard were quite good, the techno is...techno.

There I was, standing right next to a rock star, but as far as I knew, she could have been just another she-male and I would have never known the difference.

Later a slightly crazy lady of about 60 years with a long black wig, a tight mini-skirt and fish net tights asked us why we were laughing at her (however I'm quite sure we weren't laughing at the time) and then started to hit on Amir.

And that was the end of our lovely evening.

*It turns out that this is gay pride week, culminating in a big parade on Saturday. It's very likely that this little concert was a gay-pride event.