Now that the monsoon season is drawing to a close, we can all sit down to a big, bland, starchy American meal and thank the Almighty for giving us one day a year where we can literally eat ourselves comatose. What could possible be more American than unabashed gluttony topped with a little shameless sloth? The five other deadly sins all have their own holidays, but only turkey day rates two. For instance: Pride is the province of the Fourth of July – unless, of course, you happen to be gay. Then it’s sometime in June. Envy is unintentionally celebrated on either St. Patrick’s Day or Mardi Gras, two occasions on which we’re reminded that nobody parties harder than foreigners – especially if they’re Catholic. St. Pat’s and Mardi Gras work equally well for Lust, though traditionally Valentine’s Day is credited with that sin, if only for the labial color scheme and the jejune poetry. Then there’s greed, otherwise known as Greedmas (Christmas for marketing purposes), which traditionally starts the day after Thanksgiving and continues until roughly the day before. America was founded on greed, and nowhere else in the civilized world with perhaps the exception of Saudi Arabia does there exist such a shameless copulation of church and state. Christmas is our yearly hajj to the shopping mall to pay tribute to mammon and, as it turns out, Washington. Not surprisingly, neither could survive without it. Lastly there is anger. Which holiday covers anger? Veterans Day, of course (Election Day isn’t technically a holiday). Speaking of Veterans, this Saturday night at the Saxon Pub, guitarist/blues man W.C. Clark will be celebrating his 65th birthday. If you’re looking to go old skool, skools don’t get much older. W.C. has been the inspiration and mentor to countless Austin blues musicians over the years. People like Marcia Ball, Stevie and Jimmie Vaughan, and Angela Strehli to name a few. At an age when most day-jobbers would be picking up the gold watch, W.C. is still bringing it balls to the wall, and for that, we should all feel truly thankful.
This article appears in November 26 • 2004.
