Bingo!

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It's a Texas thing. Anyone can play "bingo," but only in Texas will they use their farm animals to pick the winning numbers by....ahem..."doing number two" in a marked-off area with numbers. You win by picking the number you think will be "pooped on." Chicken poop bingo has been a staple at an Austin, Texas bar that Dale Watson calls home when he's not on the road playing 150-plus dates in the US or touring Europe or Australia. He decided, in celebration of his new live album Live At Big T's Roadhouse, that he'd take the show on the road. No, he doesn't have a touring chicken with him. He gets one from a local farmer at each stop. That means that each night is a new adventure. Last night's chicken was named "Bossy." She wasn't taking any bossing, taking her sweet time to pick a winner in the second round of the chicken-poop bingo game amid over two hours of music by Dale his Lone Stars. (By the way, they aren't G-rated with the term of "chicken poop bingo" when they say it!) I've seen them 11 times this year (this was my 33rd concert this year, so a third of them have been Dale shows), so I've already chronicled how Watson never uses a set list. Early in the set he did my favorite song (and I guess now's a good time to start a Dale Watson top ten list ), and the song "Things I Shouldn't Do," which he wrote for a friend of mine (who was driving and shooting a gun shortly after rotator cuff surgery and told Dale, "I'm doing a lot of things I shouldn't do"). People were dancing, singing along, and having a great time. Two people had a better time, winning the bingo games. One took home almost $160, and the other won $120. Yeah, I had visions of the vice cops raiding the place. But Dale checked with all the local laws of the various places he's playing to make sure he could do bingo without having local gambling laws violated and that he could have the chicken pooping in the venue (meaning no food was being served). So if this tour is stopping in your city in the next week or so, take an extra two dollars to bet on chicken poop bingo. Don't be a chicken poop loser! Oh, yeah, and enjoy the great music, too.