Lucinda Getting Married

First Avenue, the former bus terminal turned iconic rock venue best known for being the backdrop of Prince's movie Purple Rain, became a whole new place Friday night when Lucinda Williams performed some of her oldest hits and then got married on stage.

My cousin and I bought tickets to her show, something we do for all her local appearances, many weeks ago and only recently got wind that Lucinda had decided to marry her man onstage, just like her idol Hank Williams had married a million years ago. Imagine our surprise when the somewhat dirty club was spiffed up with small vases of roses everywhere, staff wearing formal outfits (rather than filthy First Ave t-shirts adorned with words like "SLAVE" on the backs), and perhaps the biggest shock, a bathroom attendant passing out real cloth towels! This was not the same First Ave I was once, long ago, carried out of after one too many Jagermeister shots.

Lucinda started early for her, she's usually fashionably late, so we missed the first couple of songs. The place was packed with well-dressed people, some of whom had access to a corner of the upstairs where only wedding guests could go. We were definitely not on that list. I couldn't even hazard a guess as to how many times I've seen Lucinda perform live, but in some ways this was the best show yet. She was dressed all in black, including a tight, knee-length skirt, and left her usual straw cowboy hat at home for the night. She looked really pretty and sang all of her old stuff that made me fall in love with her in 1990 when I was living briefly in New York City and never went anywhere without my Sony Walkman and Lucinda's Passionate Kisses cassette tape playing in my ears.

After her regular set, unusually well-dressed staff members asked the audience to kindly pipe down as the vows were going to begin. Lucinda's father is famous poet Miller Williams, though I would be lying if I said I've ever heard of him outside of his relationship to her. Mr. Williams came out and did a reading and then several folks, the wedding party, came up onstage along with the couple of the hour. A religious figure of some sort in white flowing robes (sorry, not sure what denomination he was) came up last and the short ceremony commenced. We couldn't hear much of what was going on, but we were pretty certain when they were pronounced husband and wife because the whole place erupted in an unexpected flurry of confetti and streamers from the ceiling. Lucinda then performed her encore and it was all over except the late night Buffalo wings and beers down the street at Runyon's. It's exactly the celebration Lucinda would want us to have for her.