Lexington, KY - Horse Capital of the World

I have an addiction to Argentine Tango. I'm not the only one in town who does. We get together and dance at a variety of venues; anyplace with a smooth floor and cold beer will do. Once in a blue moon, we dance at Al's Bar at 6th and Limestone. (It happened to be a full moon last night, which may explain a lot.)

On a Friday or Saturday night, we sneak in and clear away the tables and dance before the band sets up. Well, not exactly "sneak"; the Management knows we're going to do it--in fact, they WANT us to do it. At Al's, instead of purely traditional tango songs from the 30s and 40s, we thrown in some more modern electronic "alternative" music, because it's that kind of place.

What kind of place? It's a little hard to describe. Al's just has that certain....je ne sais quois. OK, so maybe the booths could use some new vinyl, but Al's is the up and coming hot spot where the hip, the artistic, the political and the poetic of old and new Lexington come together for discourse over cheap food. So why not Tango?

We always expect Al's to be an unusual venue, but last night it was surreal. As always, the regulars from the neighborhood looked a little bemused as the tango dancers started to trickle in and put on their high heels (that would be the ladies in this case). Things were well underway when, around 7:30, we were invaded by about 30 pirates (that's right, pirates) in full costume. Turns out Al's Bar was one stop on the June 26 PirateCon pub crawl. It was open to anybody 21 and older, but you had to dress like a pirate and talk like a pirate. We get it. Tango dancers are expected to dress like a tango dancer and talk like a tango dancer.

We stopped the music and gave them the floor for a few minutes so they could have a "Scarrrr" contest, with prizes for the most impressive scar. The judges graciously invited the tango dancers to participate if they wished, and so of course, several did. The winner, according to the judges and crowd reaction, was, hands down.....a tango dancer. We won't say which one in case she doesn't really want the world to read about it. Once the rogues and rapscallions cleared out, and here I am referring to the pirates, we continued dancing till around 8:45 when the heavy metal band arrived to set up.

Tango. Pirates. Heavy Metal Band. Just another Saturday night at Al's.

Learn more about Al's Bar.