I was so hungry that I could not decide what to get. Our server saw I was at a bit of an obstruction in my thinking process, so he offered to make me a cheese steak the way he likes it. I don’t remember all of the ingredients, but I do remember the jalapenos. They made this wrap just hot enough to make me sweat a little while not overpowering the flavor. This prompted a discussion of how many guys I know that think of adding heat to food as a sort of contest of manliness. They tend to dare themselves to the point of not being able to even taste the food. What a waste, I think.
The Guacamole Incident
Lazlo is a vegetarian so he ordered what turned out to be an enormous plate of nachos. He had asked for guacamole instead of the salsa. This would be an extra 75 cents but that’s no big deal. The order came but with salsa instead of the guacamole. Lazlo mentioned this to our server who said, “Well that will be an extra 75 cents.” At which point Lazlo pointed out that he had already paid for it. The rest of us began to tease him—and for the rest of the night—that he was acting like a typically rude tourist from Jersey. This was of course not at all the case, but we had fun busting his chops anyway.
More Shows:
This later portion of the night was truly a physical challenge of Olympic proportions with bands on each of the three levels that I wanted to see. Yet another reason for me to not drink. Despite my best efforts, there were bound to be acts that I was going to miss such as Aniston. But, as has been happening, I would accidentally stumble upon really great acts like Slushco.
The first act I caught was Chris Cubeta and the Liars Club from Brooklyn (of course) up on the top floor. I enjoyed them a great deal. A fine collection of gritty yet poignant musical tales backed by a solid band. One funny moment was when he announced, I wrote this one when I was real young. About negative 30.” In my head I made one of my usual puns by picturing him saying he wrote it when he was Neil Young. Then they broke into ‘Ohio’ and I admit it … I scared myself a little. The song is still meaningful today. Chris made it more poignant by altering some of the lyrics to reflect our current political environment.
Next up on the top floor was Donny Hue & The Colors. Of course I had already done a round of running down to the basement and back up just to see what was going on. They are part of what I discovered last year as this incredibly tight musical community based outta DC where everyone lives together and plays in each other’s bands. The band, lead by Mike Donahue (another one originally from Brooklyn), has this great rough around the edges, bordering on calamity sound that always finds a way to keep itself together.
With what has become a traditional transition from one band to the next with this bunch, Olivia Mancini took center stage. She was playing bass with Donny Hue which, by the way, was very impressive. Jumping around like mad, I had never seen her play bass. Her band The Houseguests, made up mostly of the same players as the previous band—with a few exceptions including my friend the beautiful and uber-talented Kristin Forbes on bass—was by far the most anticipated band of the fest for me. They had the biggest impact last year with their strong songs and equally strong performance. This year they managed to raise that bar even further.
As will happen with any event like this, the schedule was drifting a bit. At this point in the night it was messing me up a bit, but by the end of the night it would work to my advantage. I missed all of Ben Krieger’s set back down on the Lounge level. This would be one of many time where someone came highly recommended and I blew it thanks to my arthritic legs and poor pulmonary health keeping me from running the levels as efficiently as I could. I really gotta be in better shape for this next year. I’ll have to check him out back up in NYC.
