She's Strange, Volume I

Occasionally (okay, often) in our travels, McKenna and I come upon strange things. Some of these things are funny and some are just plain weird. This is the first installment of what I plan to make a regular feature on this blog and I hope you gentle readers enjoy it as much as I did. With that, I bring you "She's Strange, Volume I."

On the Thursday before July 4th, I celebrated happy hour with several of my friends in downtown Frederick, Maryland. One thing lead to another and happy hour became happy four hours of indulging in the culinary and beverage offerings of several Market Street establishments. Taking a break between establishments and in an attempt to get some fresh air, we found ourselves joining a crowd of people who were gathered for a "concert" near the creek.

When we arrived, this is what we saw:

Okay, we thought, this must just be some people dressed patriotically and singing songs to get the July 4th weekend started. Bear in mind that some of us were slightly fuzzy on reality as a result of enjoying a few glasses of fine wine. Then we figured out that they were impersonating people: Reba McIntyre front and center and Bette Midler (?), Tina Turner, and Liza Minelli from left to right in the back. Even in my slightly altered state, I quietly pointed out that the person wearing the white fringed pants on the right of the group of three in the above photo appeared to have a little more going on in the crotch area than Liza Minelli.

Some of us were pretty sure that these impersonators were actually men, but others were not so sure. We continued to discuss and debate the issue as "Reba" continued singing some song I don't know or remember.

Then I thought I was losing it when I turned around and saw a boat full of disembodied heads coming our way, but I think we eventually figured out that it was a promotion for a hair salon. I won't be going there. They cut your head off and put it on a boat for marketing purposes. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Next up: "Tina Turner" singing Proud Mary (my mom loves this song ;-). If I were "Bette (?)," I think I would have insisted on some pants or a skirt rather than the one piece number you see on the far left. That's just unfortunate.

By this time, some people were really grooving to the music:

And just so that you gentle readers can enjoy a slice of what it was like to be there, I offer this short video for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to turn up the volume:

"Bette (?)" kind of peters out toward the end, but "Liza" and "Reba" kept right on rollin'...

The grand finale, which I didn't capture on video, was all four of them standing together and ripping off their wigs. Definitely men.

This was done for a good cause, although I don't remember what that was and I can't find the newspaper article that we saw the next day explaining it. Regardless, we had a good time for a while and then we continued eating and drinking our way through downtown.