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Arts & Entertainment

Rose's Cantina: Rocking Reunion on Saturday Night

Smith's Olde Bar hosts a reunion show that celebrates 1970s Midtown dive bar

As we write this, the Little Dip Kickers are having another rehearsal to get ready-set-tat-a-tat-tat for a wacky trip down Memory Lane on Saturday night at Smith’s Olde Bar.

If they could only stop laughing!

The Little Dip Kickers are a bundle of five fun-loving tap-happy gals plus two guys who were part of the “completely crazy” scene at Rose’s Cantina in the mid-1970s in Midtown.

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They were in their late 20s and early 30s back then, so now they are in their 50s an 60s. Strangely, they don’t seem to have misplaced any of that youthful spirit or energy, although some have had to find wider tap shoes.

"We are only having one reunion, EVER — and this is it,” said Rose Lynn Scott, who was the manager at the Tex-Mex hangout at 688 Spring Street. (She did everything from book the bands to buy the $1 chairs at the Good Will).

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It was Scott who named the place Rose’s Cantina. She remembers vacuuming one day, and hearing that name in Marty Robbins’ song, “El Paso.” She cried out “Yee Haw! Because I’m from Texas and I knew I had hit on the right name.”

"It was a dive bar supreme and proud of it,” said Scott, who has spent the last 25 years or so in Texas, but who returned to town a few weeks ago to gear up for this big reunion. Others have come from as far as California, Kentucky and many other states to be part of Saturday night’s shindig.

Doors open at 6 p.m., “for some visiting time and a free photo booth.” The Little Dip Kickers kick off the entertainment at 8; they will perform the only song they ever knew, but don’t think we’re giving that away.

Headlining is Thermos Greenwood and the Colored People  — so named because the five musicians in the band each represent (and wear) one color: red, white, blue, green and silver. Busy Atlanta musician Tommy Dean is Thermos Greenwood, so he’s the green one. Don’t be surprised if the faces of the band members are painted in each color. And it’s quite possible half the crowd will wear costumes that befit the occasion.

But when it comes to all things connected to Rose’s Cantina, one never knows. In fact, even Rose Lynn Scott is not entirely sure which years were the precise couple of years when Rose’s Cantina (about a block north of The Varsity) was in full flower power. Best guess: 1975-1977.

"You know, we really aren’t sure exactly when it all started and ended,” Scott said. “Honest to God, we weren’t paying that close attention."

"The phone has been ringing off the hook this week,” said Cricket, who uses just one name as the daytime manager at Smith’s Olde Bar. “I had people here wanting to buy tickets (on Friday) before I opened up today. They were worried it would be sold out."

Thermos Greenwood and the Colored People were regulars on the bill back in the day at Rose’s Cantina, as were the other musicians coming together for the reunion show. Saturday night’s lineup also features Bill Sheffield; Britt Dean and The Desperate Men; Rosebud Bluegrass; and Mary Ellen Jones.

"But people didn’t pay to get in just because they knew who was playing that night,” said Cheryl Doreen The Rodeo Queen, who worked as a waitress at Rose’s Cantina and now lives near Athens. “They also came just for the show that we, the waitresses, would put on. I mean, we would be wrestling on the floor, doing comedy bits like you wouldn’t believe.”

Cheryl Doreen (also no last name) will serve as one of the emcees for the reunion show. She called Rose’s Cantina the “best place I ever worked in my life” and Scott “truly the best boss I ever had."

As in her role as waitress (nowadays called server) and door-watcher at Rose’s, Cheryl Doreen The Rodeo Queen, wore a bull whip. At closing time, she’d jump on a table, wave her whip and holler: “IF YOU AIN’T THE HELP OR YOU AINT LEAVIN’ WITH THE HELP, GET OUT!” But that’s the clean version of what she really said.

Today, 688 Spring Street is a clinic for minor emergencies. Former Rose’s Cantina waitress Gayle Thompson thinks that’s funny because back when she worked at Rose’s, “we had ‘nurse night,’ where we gave out shots of tequilla. So we were sort of a ‘health clinic’ too, LOL!"

Everyone connected to Rose’s Cantina’s brief but oh-so-memorable chapter fondly recalls the dive’s motto: “The Customer Is Never Right — He’s Drunk!”

"We had all worked at other places where management was always making us apologize to customers who were complete jerks,” Scott said. “At Rose’s Cantina, you didn’t have to do that."

"Oh, we were just wild, so wild,” said Cheryl Doreen The Rodeo Queen. “It was wild and crazy and so much fun!”

Or, to echo Rose Lynn Scott: “Yee Haw!”

If you go: Rose’s Cantina Reunion, Smith’s Olde Bar, 1578 Piedmont Ave. NE; 404-875-1522. Doors open at 6pm, show starts at 8pm. Tickets: $15 in advance at the venue or at Criminal Records in Little Five Points. Ticket holders are guaranteed to get in, but tickets will be sold at the door if there’s availability. www.ticketalternative.com

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