Life in Austin, Texas Was Like...Nicky the Stranger

(I never want to forget what it was like to live in the weirdest city in America. Austin will always be a home to me. This was in 2014.)

After an evening at Kerby Lane for a late night pancake gathering with friends, Traci and I pondered what else to do. Just up South Lamar was an English style pub that had late hours and the word 'grill' in the title, so we assumed they might serve food. Screens scattered around the faux old English decor were showing shark week, so we were hooked. Did you catch that? And that... I digress.

Being that is was open mic night we ordered fish and chips and settled in for some random amateur entertainment.  After a few jangly guitar tunes were plinked out by a variety of nervous bearded hipsters, a guy got up who was never gonna be famous but looked like he might die trying. He was a glorious train wreck of Pat Boone, Cirque du Soleil, a slam poet, and a game show host. He started out like Leonard Cohen or Barry White singing to a track and suddenly shed the white suit coat for a blue sequin coat underneath.  A couple of spins and a backflip later this guy (who goes by the name Nicky the Stranger) is leading the pub in a singalong of a song that was entirely made up of words impossible to decipher. It was so oddly mesmerizing that I didn't even think to snap a pic.

When he finished to a chorus of cheers the MC said with a hint of semi sarcasm, "Thanks, Nicky. Always a nice change of pace from the usual." Shark week, a fake British Pub, and Nicky the Stranger in his sparkly blue glory. What a wonderful, weird Sunday night in Austin, Texas.