The year was 2003. It would be thirteen years prior to my first trip to Australia and actually consuming Vegemite on Australian soil, seeing boobs on Bondi Beach and relaxing for days at a time while consuming all the “Bugs” my body could handle on Fitzroy Island. This night would be the first actual ” Aussie Adventure” I would ever have. Thirteen years later so many things have changed in my life. We have lost friends that we once held dear, and it breaks my heart, but we will always have Drunk Australian Karaoke Night.
2003 was a great year. We were in our early twenties. We had the world ahead of us, and an empty Friday night. None of our friends had kids yet and all the responsibilities we have today. (For me, that means taking care of my cats) We lived in a small mountain town and we had an endless Friday night ahead of us.
The only thing to do was to migrate to the only bar in our one horse town;
Don Pepes.
Home of fish taco’s and Karaoke.
And yes home of drunk Australian Karaoke in the very near future.
Just another night out on the “town” as it was to us close high school friends, still BFF’s after all these years, and all the drama, adventures, and Mexican Vacations.
Friday nights should always go down like this; make the half mile drive to town, sit down in a twenty year old booth, listen to some familar Garth Brooke’s, Eagles and maybe some Dixie Chicks, in our mountain home town.
Then it’s our turn and Steven gets up to belt out Devil Goes Down to Georgia with his deep voice, and over our beers and Long Island Ice Teas we smile at each other, shoving stale tortilla chips in our mouthes and yeah, dancing a bit, waving to people I went to high school with across the bar.
Just another Friday night in Springs…
Then the drunken Australian’s showed up.
I guess, rumor had it anyways, they had been bar tending in town their days off from Pali Camp, the local youth summer camp.
Okay Aussie’s, I see your point of view, stranded in a lovely pine forest in the evening hours nothing to do but pour out strong drinks to the natives, Bruce Springsteen belting out Born in the USA in the back ground..
Then in a matter of minutes
Men at Work comes on the stereo.
Next thing we know, every Aussie in the vicinity is dancing their ass off, and belting out about Vegemite sandwiches.
Yeah I’ve had one of those at Hogi Yogi’s, its okay, I’m thinking and all of a sudden we realize
“Oh shit, that Aussie is NAKED and about to grind on the back of Cathy’s (Steven’s mom) head!”
Apparently the drunk Aussie’s take off their clothes and dance when they hear their favorite song come on.
I guess it has something to do with the lyrics…
Yes.
He was pants less.Traveling in a fried-out combie
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said,
“Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.”
When the drunk Australian’s get naked at Don Pepe’s we all wanted to run and take cover!
Now, years later, I still drive by Don Pepe’s closed for so many years any time I return to my home town. It’s hard to remember our Don Pepe nights without thinking about a naked Aussie grinding behind Cathy’s head. Don Pepe’s held a lot of memories for us from our small home town amid the pines.