Clothes shopping made fun - really

  

What a fab find!

RECENTLY I SAW a post from a local band suggesting it was a good idea to "dress sharp" when playing local gigs.

HAHAHAHAHAH,

Since I can't look sharp, I don't worry about it. Most of my "gig" wardrobe is older than the Lab Brats at Blessing. Combined. And don't ask me to tuck in that shirt with bananas on it.

That's where it started, with the bananas shirt. Who knows where I got it. A week ago Alicia McCarl of Prospect Road said she loved the bananas shirt. So it got me thinking ... maybe I need to update the gig wardrobe.

Who am I kidding? I get chastised on a daily basis for wearing "blue on blue" and donning white socks with black sneakers. That's a bad thing? 

So I decided to update the gig wardrobe, whatever that means. I enlisted the fashionista of girl singers, the lovely Allison McElroy of The Whatevers, to help. "Yes! I love to thrift!" she said.

Thrift?

"We gotta check out the thrift stores," she said. 

"Agreed," I said. "I did not know 'thrift' is a verb."

So, Saturday afternoon, we embarked on a thrifting adventure. I hate shopping for clothes but Allison made it fun. She is very into the fashion thing and she often lets me know what she is wearing before we play a Whatevers gig.

"I'm wearing this and NO you can't wear that," is usually what she says.

Turns out the thrift stores didn't have much. I found a hat that says "Weight Watchers" on it, which makes no sense for me to have, so I got it. And a shirt with palm trees. But that's all we found

"I think we need to go to Kohl's," Allison said, referring to a local clothing store.

"Good idea," I said. "Let's hurry before the tariffs hit so I can still afford it."

Nope. Not gonna happen, girl singer.

This was a great idea. Kohls had tons of cheap shirts perfect for gigs. Allison even found one for herself with a slogan about Old Fashions on it. She loves Old Fashions. 

I found one with a ridiculous cat mosiac theme, another with Garfield the cat, a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon shirt and a horrendously gaudy dress shirt with something leafy or with birds on leaves on it. Score!

 "That one with the cats is you," Allison said. "Coco will love it too."

We ended up laughing our way through Kohls the whole time and it was a blast. Afterwords we met up with Allison's husband, Ryan, and had ourselves a fine cigar at Lux Stogie. Yup. The girl singer is getting into cigars. I'm still pinching myself.

So now I'm set for a few gig debut "outfits" and very excited. Wait. What the heck is wrong with me? Did I just actually say that?

Ugh. Allison ... you are a bad, bad influence on me. Or a fashionable one, at least.