Here it is in a nutshell: the reality of 1:30am bar life. Verbena sees the 2:00am last call on the horizon. Semisonic will play “Closing Time,” and the jukebox will stop, the lights will come up, and the illusion will shatter. But in this brief moment, with Lloyd’s arm around her, his warm bourbony breath on her cheeks, and fiery hot nuts so accessible and so amazingly affordable, life is good.
This is one of the most telling portraits from Henry Horenstein’s book HonkyTonk, a book of fascinating black and white portraits he took mostly from the country and western scene in the 1970s. It’s hard to narrow a brief selection down, but there are sites that showcase many of them, such as http://clampart.com/2012/07/honky-tonk-portraits-of-country-music-2/#/13. However, I prefer to leaf through the book itself and create my own back stories.
Is Earl waxing nostalgic for his salad days, missing the boys in his high school rockabilly band, before the tattoos and the Kool habit? Before Arlene cheated with Vernon, his supposed best friend, and then a twister took Vernon to his maker, and isn’t that sweet justice?
Lookin’ for love in all the right places.
Last call indeed.
I Don't Get It 
Powerful piece. I can’t think of any witty remark right now. Maybe later.
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Oh, come on! The last girl got dressed in a wigwam! Doesn’t that warrant anything?
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WIGWAM I missed that. Well now I’v gotta go back and take another look. I just thought it a little sad seeing so many of my relatives.
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😦
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Well I must really be stupid. I don’t know nothin’ ’bout no wigwam. I saw my uncle Phil and Aunt Lorane. That’s them with the hot nuts. That picture could have been taken the night they conceived cousin Marse Lee. She ran off to become a pole dancer in Kokomo. But I heard she quit that and joined the Coast Guard. But I sure ain’t seen no wigwam.
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You have the bones of a novel right there. Kokomo is as nice a place as any if you’re gonna work the pole.
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Well I don’t know. I’ve known some dancers in my time and although they all liked Kokomo Evansville was a faster track.
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I love the title combined with the pics! Especially the first one. Yikes.
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She seems thrilled about her fate, no?
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I dream small. All I want is for everyone in the world to be bitter. I don’t ask for much.
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All one has to do is think about what they THOUGHT they’d be doing by this age, and then compare that to reality and boom–instant bitterness.
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You have discovered why I am so bitter! Aaaaaghhh.. don’t tell anyone.
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I think this is my new favorite blog.
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Awww, shucks. Then I will forgive your gravatar for making me feel like I am in an acid trip kaleidoscope. 🙂
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Believe it or not, that gravatar is just a close-up of a painting on a brick wall next to a gas station.
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