The Windy City Cowboys have been borrowing from the Jersey Boys and West Side Story this yearand it's been a successful season so far.
The Cowboys have performed to "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" ( Jersey Boys ) , truly a crowd-pleaser. And Cowboys' director and founder Alan Miller also created "Dueling Banjos," based on West Side Story, which requires a costume changea first for the Cowboys.
"The best story from this year [ so far ] was during Pride week, one of our members was featured on the cover of the Red Eye," said Tim Copple, 46, the business manager for the Cowboys. "We actually incorporated it into the Dueling Banjos routine that weekend. We had a bunch of the papers all ready for about eight guys to just hold up, and they acted like they were reading the story and realized that the guy on the cover was dancing in front of us. The audience got the joke and loved it."
It certainly has been a busy summer for the Cowboys, as they have appeared at the Andersonville Midsommarfest, Pride Fest, the Pride Parade Parade and Northhalsted Market Days.
In 2009, the Windy City Cowboys performed at the Milwaukee Pride Parade, and were named its Best Marching Group. And at the Dallas Pride Parade, the Cowboys claimed Best Walking/Marching group.
The Cowboys usually perform to country music, but not always. Their music has ranged from LeAnn Rimes, The Dixie Chicks and Jessica Simpson to the Jersey Boys soundtrack, Erasure and Rascal Flatts.
"This is our third year, and I am probably going to jinx us by telling you this, but every year, for at least one or two of our outdoor performances, the weather has been horrendous just a few hours before we perform. However, in every case, the weather has cleared up and has been beautiful by the time we perform. Now we will probably have horrible weather all year next season," Copple joked. "We have several guys who are not only technically talented, but natural performers as well. From a performance standpoint, one of the main goals for the guys this year was to get everyone to be more comfortable with being in front of an audience and selling the dance.
The Cowboys are an all-male group, gay and bisexual, with members ranging in age from the late 20s into their 60s. Most live in Chicago or the suburbs, though there are members from Southern Wisconsin. "We have many different ages and backgrounds," Copple said. "We have teachers, doctors, pharmacists, chemists, technology geeks, editors, nurses, project managers, artists, etc. You name it; we probably have someone who does it."
The Cowboys were founded in January 2008, as Miller was inspired by the D.C. Cowboys' performance at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Gay Games at Wrigley Field. He thought a similar group would be a great addition to the line up of gay performance groups in Chicagoso he started the search for fellow entertaining Cowboys.
"The main goals of the group are to entertain audiences at, and keep them coming to, gay functions, including pride parades, rodeos, street festivals and fund-raising events, such as the AIDS Walk," Copple said. "We are not associated with any specific charity, and that is not our mission or goal. We have, however, donated to a few charities after we have held fundraisers for the group over the last two years. The Cowboys is mostly self-funded by its members, who pay dues for the season. Those dues pay for our rehearsal space, the truck and sound system rentals for parades, etc."
So why be a Cowboy?
"Besides the fact that I just love to dance, these guys have become family to me," Copple said. "We usually rehearse on Sunday evenings and, after rehearsal, most of the group goes to a restaurant in the area together and have dinner. It's usually 16 to 20 of us pouring into a restaurant."
The Cowboys travel to San Francisco, Calif., for the Sundance Stampede Oct. 15-16 for the annual gay country dance convention, with dancers from all over the U.S. attending. This will be the third year that the Windy City Cowboys will have attended and participated.
"The yearly gay country dance convention hosts dancers from all over the country to learn new line dances, learn two-stepping, waltz and swing at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels," Copple said. "Each evening, there are literally hundreds of people in a big ballroom and they all know how to dance."
Copple said the Cowboys' performances are always changing, on purpose. They are always in transition.
"We may have [ a routine ] going one way, perform it, and then watch the video and realize that some things don't work, so we tweak it to make it better," Copple said. "That process can happen many times during a season. We start rehearsals for the season in late January in order to have routines ready in time for street fairs in the spring, the Pride Parade, etc. We try to get a piece to last a couple of years. For example, each year we have taken the previous year's Pride Parade number and reworked it in order to perform it on the stage as a standstill. We keep the basic choreography, but make changes to where someone moves in order to keep it within the confines of a stage."
Windy City Cowboys membership is open to gay men who have dance experience, particularly two-stepping or line dancing. Copple said new recruits should be, "fun loving, hard working, attend rehearsal consistently and will wear tight jeans."
Those interested in joining the Cowboys should contact Alan Miller at bootcut1@yahoo.com .