Silverado's

Silverado's is one of those country dance clubs that before you move to Nashville you imagine are on the corner of every major intersection, a club where large groups of white people get together to drink, listen to country music, and do some line dancing. There's free beer until eleven. It's six or seven dollars to get in and I aimed to not let them make a profit on me. But this post is not about me, other than to say that a woman who did not eat dinner and who's already looking to kick someone in the face should probably not view Silverado's as some kind of all-you-can-drink challenge. But anyway, I hadn't ever been to one of these things before, but all the women from work were going and I didn't want to be left out. From the outside, it looks pretty non-descript, like it might have been a Red Lobster in a former life. But the inside really surprised me. There was, as you'd imagine, a lot of wood and corrugated tin. But in the middle of everything was a huge dance floor under a mirrored ball and there were all kinds of couples gracefully moving counter clockwise around it. For a brief moment, I thought I was at a roller rink. In fact, that's very much what it was like, from to the railing that only let you off the dance floor near the bathrooms or bars to the fact that beginners kept to the outside and more experienced dancers passed in the middle. There were some couples there that were really good. One couple even had the black and red get-up and they danced most of the night. There was a bride and her bridal party there, and though I wish her and her husband the best of luck, I'm almost sure he's going to lose her to her maid of honor. There were lots of kids who looked like they'd come down from Fort Campbell and some, too few, bikers. My two favorite dancers to watch were these two young guys. One was so much taller than his partner that he had to slouch a little to fit her. But he was good and I think his buddies were near us because every time he came by, he smiled up in our direction like he'd won the lottery. You don't often see people giving themselves over to joy like that, but that guy was having a great time. The other guy was hilarious because he looked so bored. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and some kind of flower-print shirt over that and jeans. And he sauntered around the dance floor so nonchalant and naturally that you thought he must just move that way all the time. He's got such a low-key way of dancing, who would be able to tell on the street that that's what he was doing? But just when you thought he could not be any more over this whole dancing thing, he'd just pick his partner up and toss her around in these intricate spinning aerial maneuvers and his expression would not change! I mean, seriously, he's tossing some chick around with the ease with which I toss laundry in the hamper. He's not breaking a sweat. He's not even looking like he's concentrating. It was something to see. Anyway, it's definitely some of the most fun people watching I've had, so I would highly recommend it to y'all.