Back in Austin, Texas for the first time in a while. We lived here a number of years ago and it is good to be back just to see the sights again and go by our favorite “haunts.” One of them – the Congress Avenue bridge and the area around it is amazing!
First, if you are willing to brave the rather busy traffic and step out into the middle of the road (NOT recommended!) and look north, you are greeted with a great photo op of the Texas Capitol building! It is actually taller than the U.S. Capitol, but it seems, contrary to popular belief (especially in the Lone Star state), it is not the tallest capitol building in the U.S. – that honor apparently goes to Louisiana.
Then, at dusk, if you stand near the south end of the bridge on the east side by the river bank, you will witness the emergence of the bats that live under the bridge as they swarm out to fill their tiny stomachs by reducing the insect population. That colony of bats is estimated to consist of up to 1.5 million critters – they eat a LOT of bugs!
On this particular occasion, following the bat-watching exercise, we journeyed to the north side of Austin to Applebee’s in Cedar Park. Sitting in the restaurant late Sunday evening with some of my family, and having finished some excellent salads, we were just relaxing and talking about things in general. The music being piped in was an old favorite (although I never cared for the sentiments expressed) – “American Woman”… I was enjoying listening to it when my son-in-law quietly commented on some of the conversation between two young guys sitting in the booth behind them.
They were apparently talking about a number of things, and as I strained my ears, I was pretty sure I heard them discussing what band recorded “American Woman.” One was pretty sure it was Ratt and some conversation that I couldn’t hear/understand ensued. A couple of minutes later, as we were standing up to leave, I heard one of them say he thought it might be REO Speedwagon. Being an eavesdropper, and a nosy one at that, as I passed by their table, I asked, “Are y’all talking about who recorded the song that’s playing?”
“Yeah.”
Trying to be helpful, I just told them the name of the band. It took an unexpected turn…
“Guess Who”
“That’s what we’re trying to do…” Just a slight touch of irritation there…
“No, no…that’s the name of the band…Guess Who.”
“Oh, right…that’s right, I thought it was from one of those one-hit wonder groups like that…”
“Actually, Guess Who was a well-known band that had a lot of hits back in the 70’s.”
“Really?”
“Yeah…”
It was all I could do to only smile as we wished them a good evening and exited the restaurant…
To quote the great Yogi Berra, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” (See my post dated May 11, 2016, “New is Old? Old is New?”
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