For my money, Mountain Stage is the best music venue around these parts.  I dig the folkie, singer-songwriter, and alt-country genres and have seen many of my favorites take the stage over the years (Rosanne Cash, Joan Osborne, Jakob Dylan, Jill Sobule, Patty Griffin) and typically fall in love with at least one other act that I’d had no previous exposure to before the show.  Prefacing the evening with dinner at nearby Tricky Fish is becoming a welcome tradition.

But I’m sorry to say that two recent trips to the Mountain Stage have been marred by the most unwelcome of sights: drunk people in the audience!  The first happened at the recent Indigo Girls show at the Clay Center when a group of rowdy women were eventually escorted out of the theatre.  I attributed their embarassing behavior to the fact that the show had ventured beyond the typical WV Culture Center venue to the larger Clay Center – figuring that may attract some folks not familiar with the intimate setting – and also that the Clay Center sells liquor in its lobby (a business practice that I find cheapens the experience of the classy center; I’m all for a drink, believe me, but not in that particular arena).

Then, after winning free tickets to last night’s show, back at the Culture Center and headlined by Nellie McKay, I was disgusted by the drunken father-son duo who flirted with my female friends and talked loudly throughout the entire show.  At least one couple moved to the other side of the venue.  An old man in front of them finally turned around and told them to shut up, at which point the drunkards got up and left.  Unfortunately this happened during the last set when the show was nearly over anyway.

I plan to attend a couple more Mountain Stage shows in the near future.  Here’s hoping the drunk folks stay away!  Have some decorum, people!