We had a wonderful time at the Okemah Jazz Festival over the weekend. The music very rarely became even jazz-adjacent, however, which is fine. We got to hear Susan Herndon play, which was nice as I’ve heard her name, seen ads for her shows, and yet somehow never actually encountered her music:

My favorite part came during the act that followed Susan. They were a sort of soul/R&B/rock and roll group, and it wasn’t their music that made it the best part of the afternoon. Their music was fine, but the part of the show that had me enthralled was that I got to watch people dance, which is always a great thing to do. They were constantly calling on the crowd to come down and make use of the expanse of empty grass in front of the stage:

Now, I’m usually the kind of person that would rather die before I’d get up and dance by myself in front of a bunch of people. Be it at a bar, a wedding, a bar mitzvah – I don’t care, I don’t want to be the first person on the dance floor. Part of this is my natural aversion to being on stage or having people look at me in any way. But another part is that I don’t want to take away from what’s going on with the music; I don’t want to distract audience members away from the band. This lady didn’t have a single qualm about doing it, though; she’s living her life to the fullest:

She was the first one to start dancing, and after a few songs she was joined by a few other people. This lady in particular seemed to be enjoying herself:

I ran this photo through the “Seventies” filter in Photoshop, because, well – the haircut. Anyway, don’t tell me that if someone told you that this photo was taken in 1979 that you wouldn’t believe them. I kid, but seriously this lady was having a great time. Best among them all, though, was the little girl who danced down front during the whole set. We later found out she was the lead singer’s daughter:

Adorable, right? Seriously, keep on the watch for this one. She had the moves and was a natural performer. She’s going to be famous one of these days and I’m going to get a cease and desist order telling me to take down this photo.

These people were having a great time dancing, and though I was too self-conscious to join them I did have a grand time watching. I got to sit there with my Frozen Rose, which is this wonderful concoction they have at Grape Ranch that’s basically a red wine smoothie (I think we’ll be drinking them in Heaven). Seriously, those things are the best; they give you a neat little buzz and keep you cool. So even though I didn’t get up and dance, I have absolutely no regrets.