Mike Stinson

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Sunday after noon is lovely, warm and sunny. It gets up to 75F. We went to see honky tonk legend Mike Stinson (and Chicken Shit Bingo -- more on that in a moment) at C-boy's Heart & Soul on South Congress after the Hippy Church at Maria's Taco Xpress.

We arrive early for the 3:30 show and are waiting with others for the doors to open. One of the staff has his Harley Davidson Sporster parked out front right by the door and comes around to tell us not to touch his bike. I'm thinking ... Why in hell don't you park safely in the parking lot instead?

We're chatting with a couple of guys our age in line. The one fellow is visiting from Costa Rica to house/dog sit for a friend. He's never been to a Chicken Shit Bingo or to a Mike Stinson event or to C-boys. We tell him that it will be a good show and advise him to get a good seat early as there aren't that many. We end up in a comfy booth right by the stage. There are a few high tables with bar stools and a good sized dance area. There's also a bit of a back patio and it's a nice day to sit outside. Our new friend from Costa Rica really enjoys the show. We get to talking and he tells me we ought to go see Ulla (Rich Brotherton & others who perform traditional Irish tunes) at the Saxon Pub -- he was there last Sunday, so were we!

Chicken Shit Bingo is a real Austin thing. It's a game of chance involving, you guessed it: a chicken and some chicken shit. They chicken is in a wired mesh cage with a numbered grid on the floor of it. You place a bet on where the chicken will shit and if you win you take the pot. The fellow in the picture was one of the 4 winners that happened while we were there. The older lady is Jinny, of Jinny's Little Long Horn Saloon, and she conducts the game. Winnings each time were $108 counted out by the band.

Mike Stinson tells folks to line up for the bingo on the far side against the booths and not to line up in front of the bar. There are very few rules but the admonishment to not block the bar is one of the few.  He asks Jinny if they've been feeding Exlax to the chickens. He also makes a joke about the pending coronavirus problem -- he thinks he can survive the Corona Virus but if they every have a Coors Light Virus then he'll be in real trouble. Drinking, and drinking songs, are a big part of his music.

Mike sings lots of songs we're familiar with -- "The Box I Take to Work", "I May Have to Do It" (which Christine Albert has been singing at Mystery Mondays), "Stop the Bar", "Late for My Funeral"; and some covers like "Troubles in My Bubbles in My Bottle of Beer", "Going to California" (Jimmie Rodgers). There are lots of tunes that are new to us and some we're waiting for like "Died and Gone to Houston" which probably came up in the second set. Mike has several CD's and has his last one "Hell and Half of Georgia" (2013) for sale. We have it already.

The bar fills during the first set with several very good dancers on the dance floor. I think people come here to dance on a Sunday afternoon. There's no cover charge (they pass a tip jar), a good dance floor and music made for dancing. We left early during the second set and will have missed out on some great tunes.

C-boys has Chicken Shit Bingo as a regular Sunday afternoon affair. Mike Stinson plays once a month, we've also seen Dale Watson here. Mike also has a regular gig on Tuesday night at 10:00 at the Continental Club but this afternoon show is more to our liking.

If you get a chance to see Mike Stinson do go. He's the real deal.