So I got off of work, and as planned got immediately in the car with the fiancee and drove out to Berkeley Springs, WV. We're having our wedding out there, so we needed to meet with the "officiant" and go over details and then go out and look at the locale, which I had only seen pics of. Meet with the officiant who seems very cool and chill, and above all open to all of our ideas. You know the usual, wrestling music entrances, and the obligatory whisky ice shoots for all in attendance as they walk in. Not really, but she was down with many of our ideas. So afterwards, now at least an hour or two outside our normal dinner time, we decided to check out what the town had to offer. We picked up at a shop earlier, a pamphlet showing restaurants in the area. Being a rather granola town, and close proximity to DC, the prices for most places are up there. I'm going down the list when I see--THE TROUBADOUR. I read about it and see its home of the WV Country Music Hall of Fame. I'm ready. Its off the beaten path...I mean REALLY off the path (should've been an indication), but we muster on. Soon we pull up to these white Graceland style entrance fences and a white building that looks like a converted trailer. My fiancee is leary, but I press on. I just keep saying, "this has to be good" with a wry smile on my face. As we walk up I notice 2 cctv cameras pointed at us. I open the door and we walk into literally a gigantic confederate flag with "Git R Done" on it. Shit. I know I can't just walk back out, that I need to play it cool. So we walk in (luckily I'm wearing my tv station shirt) and everyone in the place turns around to look at us. I walk in further and just start looking at crap. This tiny man comes up to me and asks me how I'm doing and I'm just like, "oh we're here for the HOF". He points me to a wall of literally thousands of snapshots at this place, and people who've played its backyard. Amateur, albeit being infinitely cool. We begin to leave when he says more is in the back. He then takes on a guided tour of various posters, pics, etc. Pretty cool place, though I'm not sure how "sanctioned" the HOF is. The cool thing is, I can completely see this is where real country music is just played and enjoyed without bs. Oh, and their have a bunch of cool festivals where you just bring a covered dish as admission. Rock.

Found their website...the hat and tee in the merch area will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

http://www.troubadourlounge.com/loungeandpark.html

For some reason, I thought you were gonna say you had walked into a KKK-sponsored club.

Ha. The people seemed cool enough to us, and I usually have a pretty good BS meter for people. Though there wasn't any Charley Pride photos if you know what I'm sayin'. I'm not jumping to conclusions though.

Y'see, the Stars and Bars is not an auto-go. Glad you found a good time.

Completely agreed on the flag issue.

While reading this I was totaly envisoning eyes wide shut crossed with like deliverance or something. Glad things worked out. Sounds like a pretty cool experience.

Oftentimes the git-r done crowd turn out to be genuine people, though they're fond of messing with Constanza-heads.

I'll take the real country crowd over hipsters any day of the week. At least when they prishiate your wife's boobs they tip their hats.

Plus you sometimes run into interesting Kris Kristofferson-Sam Eliott types.

If you got the time, do a little fishin' in the Cacapon.

that t-shirt is actually pretty damn cool.

Pretty sweet, man. Have the reception there!

Oddly enough, we were joking that we should have the rehearsal dinner there. The day after our wedding is the Patsy Cline celebration, which apparently draws craploads of people.