Let's Dance

The other week, I was driving to my 2^nd job at Malarky’s Sports Grill. Wednesday to be exact. I noticed a man standing at a bus sign waiting for a bus. I recognized the man right away. It was Kenny, The Dancing Wild Man of Factoria. It’d been a minute since I’ve seen him on the streets of Issaquah, I was growing concerned that something awful happened to him.

I was thankful to find him once again, and within the same area I “met” him the first time… hilarious story.

I remember distinctively. It was my first summer I spent in Issaquah. The sun was out, so relatively warm. I was bombing around in the Sapphire Sled [an arctic blue, 2004 Acura RSX Type S] with the windows down, the tunes up. I was stopped at the traffic light on the corner of Front Street and NW Gilman Blvd; the busiest intersection.

From out-the-cuts, I heard someone screaming! I pull off my shades immediately. I whip my head around trying to seek out the source of the noise. I turn down the radio as I desperately scanning the intersection, thinking, “Please God protect any pedestrians that might’ve been hit by a passing car!” My mind was racing through my first aid checklist, recapping my CPR skills, where to pull over to grab my go-kit in the trunk.

I locate the source of the noise. It was a tall, skinny man wearing a sandwich board sign, with an old-school CD player from the 80’s, headphones on, dancing and yelling like the cover of “Where The Wild Things Are”.

He’s smiling, singing, and dancing on the street corner. I sighed in relief. SCARED THE BEEJEEZUS out of me! Thinking… “That sonofab – scared me. Who does that?!”

It wasn’t until weeks later that I learned the name of the man from my personal trainer during a power workout. I was sharing my story, and he quipped, “Oh yeah. I know him. His name’s Kenny – like me. I live around there. Scared the hell outta me the first time I ‘met’ him.”

We laughed, then after my workout I Googled him!

Sure enough, there’s an article about this man. Here it is below this entry. The point I’m making is I hope you dance! Just like the Lee Ann Womack song, “I Hope You Dance”. I hope you dance and sing as if no one is watching or listening every day you’re alive.

 

Let's dance, shall we? This has been your C-Note.

 

'los; out

 

Lee Ann Womack "I Hope You Dance"

Article about Kenny, who I believe has relocated to Issaquah.

The Dancing Wild Man of Factoria

Factoria, the southernmost neighborhood of Bellevue, is known mainly as a tightly packed retail center where parking is as hard to find as a reasonably priced coffee. But to one wild-maned, hyper-energetic maverick, Factoria is the ultimate dance floor! Along the office parks of Southeast 38th Street, Kenny Nagamatsu gets his groove on daily, with a wild abandon that constantly turns heads and slows traffic.

For about a decade, Kenny has publicly hopped, bopped, shimmied and shook to the tunes on his portable CD player. His enthusiasm has doubtlessly inspired countless smiles and just as many double-takes among the throngs of white-collar workers who drive by. During dance moves, he’ll often wave at passing cars, getting friendly honks in return. When he really gets going, he yells an emphatic “OWWW!” and performs an odd, hopping pirouette. This, coupled with his somewhat feral appearance, has earned him the moniker Dancing Wild Man in some circles.

For all his boisterousness, Kenny is remarkably soft-spoken. When approached by your friendly Weird Washington representative, he seemed taken aback that anyone would be interested in learning a little about him. With an oddly British accent and a surprisingly shy demeanor, he offered his basic motivations: “I don’t care what people think of me, and I don’t care what I look like.” As he explains it, he simply loves his tunes and doesn’t care who knows it, volunteering that The Beatles and the Monkees really get him going. He also offers that he has two jobs. That is, two different eateries pay him to do his unique dancing while holding advertising signs.

So in short: he’s got the look, the moves, the recognition and steady work doing what he loves best. By any standard, he’s good to go! Rock on, Kenny!