Not even just a little bit country.

I'm not a country music fan. I like bluegrass, and I like the Dixie Chicks (they're more pop anyway, right?), but when it comes to twangy country rock where people sing about the man/girl/tractor that done them wrong, I'm out.

So I was a bit nervous about heading to Nick's Nightclub in Alexandria for a night full of country line dancing. Yeah, you heard me right there. Country. Line. Dancing.

Sidenote: I don't even like regular line dancing. No electric slide, no chicken dance, no Cupid shuffle. I enjoy just dancing on my own, and am convinced line dancing is for white people who can't dance and need instruction. If that's you then I hope you have a great time, but it's just not my thing. End sidenote.

Last year, I met a group of friends through Carly who call themselves, "Team Awesome" and get together for fun outings out. The most recent adventure was country line dancing. I agreed to go because a whole pack of people I know and like were going, but I wasn't too sure about the whole thing. But then! I went to Nick's Nightclub's website and lo and behold....they have karaoke! Suddenly, the evening seemed full of possibility.

We got there a bit early and got some drinks at the bar ("do you want some drinks? GOD YES.") and then settled in to a lovely corner booth. The bar offers country line dancing lessons for $5, but I decided to pass. I would rather just sit there and judge everyone else who is brave enough to try something new. From what I could see it looked like my friends did very well, but after the 45 minute lesson was over and the band started playing...none of them actually did any country line dancing. Let's just say that there were a lot of people in that bar who were clearly regulars and knew what they were doing. I'm not sure they would appreciate a bunch of bumblers out there crowding up their dance floor. And since it's a country bar, they probably all had guns under their ten gallon hats.

The good news is there was a back bar with the karaoke and another dance floor where they played some regular music (after yes, some country). We kind of scoped out a spot on the floor and had a grand ole (opry) time. My first karaoke selection for the evening was Alone by Heart , but after three hours of singing and dancing, it was time to call it at a night. I was still waiting for my second song, but the DJ was kind enough to move my last song to the top of the queue, and I sang right to my friends the touching ballad of My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson. Which is true. It would actually suck without them.

All in all, a good time was had. However, the DJ, while nice, was a little questionable. Observe the following exchange:

Me: Can you play "Forever" by Chris Brown next?
DJ: What song? "Forever??"
Me: Yeah, by Chris Brown.
DJ: Is that a song people will dance to if I play it?
Me: Umm.....yeah. (unspoken "duh")
DJ: If I have it, I'll play it.

"If I have it?" And I don't think she even knew who Chris Brown is. You know you're in a country music bar when...