Skippy's Mistake Reunion @ Gold Nugget in Arlington- Saturday, May 9

Skippy's Mistake was a bar in Arlington that closed down years ago. However, they try to have a reunion each year. These reunions are a chance for members of the hippie generation to put away their suits, ties, and dresses, and dust off their old biker gear, hippie clothes, and sexy dresses (some of the women actually looked pretty good, considering they were all old enough to be my mother!).  I understand these people don't get to party often (they have responsibilities, unlike us damn kids!), so they go wild! They get drunk and dance around to classic rock and blues-rock music. Their was a question of whether or not the show would go on when it started raining, so I missed the first bands. I got there in time to see The Sultans, though. All of the other bands played outside, but as soon as The Sultans took the stage, the cops shut them down. Undeterred, they went inside and (with limited equipment) carried on this wild shin-dig. They played classic rock cover tunes like "Suzy Q," "Break On Through To The Other Side," "I Just Wanna Make Love To You," "I'm A Monkey," and  some more modern covers like The Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?" and Black Sabbath's "War Pigs."  Just when I was about to head out, they started playing some of their own originals- wow! Their originals were even better than their covers! Okay, so people didn't know the words to sing along like in all the covers, but the musicianship in these songs was about ten times greater! Just when I thought they were almost done, they started up even more powerful than before, and started doing even cooler stuff on their guitars! I had to force myself to leave! I look forward to next year's reunion- and I'm going to drag my parents there!

Epilogue: I was able to enjoy what everyone else my age would call "old people music"- because I didn't think of it like that. It was great music- the Sultans kicked ass!- I realize how different our music must sound compared to stuff from the sixties and seventies, but keep in mind that there are all kinds of music for all kinds of people. Try to enjoy it, and if you can't, at least respect it.

Peace through music. Dallas music!

-Grady Smith, Ftworthmusic.com Editor