Wah-Watusi!

Booklet of dance instructions, early 1960s.

Lately it's been hard to get my mind and body in gear.  Perhaps it's just hibernation time.  There's nothing wrong beyond the usual creaks and rumbles of old age.  Guess I'm just in a blah mood.

The state of the world being what it is, I've tried today to think of something I could blog that might give me a lift - maybe it will help somebody else, too.  So here goes.

I'm sure many of my truckbuddies remember the Watusi song and the dance of the same name - or do you?  Alas, by the time I started going to high-school dances, say about 1968 or so, all the cutely named dances popular in the early sixties had degenerated into miscellaneous twitches, jerks, and shuffles.  There were no steps to learn - you just stood there and wiggled as you pleased, more or less in time with the music.  A couple of years later, the Cool Kids in their puritan zeal declared that dancing was "not relevant" - and so there were no more dances, in high school or college.  They didn't return until the rise of disco, about 1976.

But I digress.  Just what was the Watusi?  I've tried to look this up before, and apparently nobody really knows.  I've seen comments from dance teachers on YouTube who say they can't find any actual steps to that dance.  Well, here are some historical videos that might give a clue.  See what you think - and I think you will smile.

1.  The lovely Lennon Sisters on the Lawrence Welk Show:

 

2. Wednesday and Lurch from The Addams Family:

3.  The KCTU Dancers from Wichita, Kansas, in 2014, having big fun with something that may or may not be historically correct:

4.  Luci Johnson and Steve McQueen certainly ought to have known what they were doing in Beverly Hills in the summer of '64, so perhaps this is the definitive performance:

5.  On the other hand, how can you get more authentic than these chaps?  From the 1959 film Watusi, I think:

Vote for your favorite version in the comments section.

 

P. S. -- Actually, there is documentation for how to dance the Watusi.  See it and try it after the jump.  And let me know how that works out for you.

Guest Post: He's So Fine, Part 1

Contributed by my English truckbuddy Tim, now resident in Spain:

First of all, the spoilers. This tale contains pictures of Steve McQueen, Dennis Wilson, and Cam Gigandet, so stick with it!

 

 

Remember when I wrote that first Universal Truths guest post? And how your Head Trucker had hopes that they were going to reveal the fundamental truths that come with age and wisdom, that would explain the mysteries of life. Well, so far, so bad, but about 10 months ago I had an idea for a post that might actually meet those aspirations. It’s been a long time coming, and when I added a second story-line to the original one, much to my surprise I found that I now had a tale covering my life from my first gay inklings to the present day. However, it didn’t lead me to the discovery of any new Universal Truths. Instead my conclusions lead me to the biggest surprise of all, a personal revelation and some disturbing possibilities that have come as quite a shock. Something, that, to be honest, I’m still trying to assimilate. You will have to wait for the end of Part 2 to discover what they are, but in the meantime, as ever, your comment are always welcome. Who knows, we may even prevail upon the old Trucker to switch off the comment moderator! What’s with those blurry numbers anyway?

It’s 1961, and a scrawny little blond kid is playing alone in the long narrow garden behind the terraced house, down by the railway line. There is a powerful roaring sound overhead. The boy looks up from his game and stands transfixed . . .

- Continued after the jump -