Waking after a restless night with a monster
I tossed, I turned and I tossed again. This was by far the worst night of sleep on this large, comfy sofa with many, many pillows. I’d get up to get some water, go outside for a smoke, read and write … nothing seemed to work. In the morning, Jacque pointed out my last drink to me. That Monster and Vodka mix. The booze may be a sedative, but the rest is quite a potent energy booster used by many for long drives or all night antics. No wonder I couldn’t sleep. Jacque’s rule is such drinks after 8:00PM. Good to know.
Breakfast for me was a Chai Tea and a large oatmeal cookie at Joe’s Coffee (510 Flat Shoals Ave SE). This bright, thrift-store-decorated living room looking place was a great way to start my day. Colorful art hanging on the walls—which are all for sale—and old jazz and pop songs playing in the background. Not your usual corporate chain place. They still call their small size, small and their large size, large. There’s a massive bulletin board loaded from top to bottom with flyers and posters of all sorts. You can linger here unchecked taking advantage of the Wi-Fi or the free board games.
Our plans to eat Mexican for lunch were once again thwarted by fate. Jacque had told Nina and me about this place called Elmyr (1091 Euclid Ave). It’s apparently one of the better places to get Mexican food in town. We were meeting our friend Kim for lunch and thought that Elmyr would be a good spot. However, when we walked up to the door there was a sign saying, “Sorry Yall … but due to an unforeseen wedding, Elmyr and all his friends are closed today!” This made us scratch our heads a bit.
You see, the wedding being unforeseen was one thing, if that meant it was a party happening here at Elmyr and was simply booked at the last minute. But the place was deserted. Plus, “…Elmyr and all his friends are closed?” Does that mean there are other Mexican restaurants in town sympathetic to the wedding cause who have locked their doors too? The confusion was giving me a headache. Luckily there was one place open where the shattered dreams of eating a Mexican lunch could be mended.
La Fonda Latina (923 Ponce De Leon Ave NE) is a decent sized Mexican and Cuban joint with a surprisingly mild approach to their food. The food is good, don’t get me wrong. Plus with the way my stomach was rejecting the past couple of days worth of potato chips and cheap beer, the milder the better. It just struck me as odd. In order to not break the ‘no Mexican’ wave we’d been riding, I ordered the Cuban sandwich which, in a place like this, was actually light and fairly healthy. On the side were plantains and this amazing garlic dipping sauce. I could only eat half of my sandwich but this would come in handy later.
Lennys Bar (486 Decatur St) was once referred to as the CBGB of the south. That was when they were in their old location. With descriptions like ‘small’, ‘loud’, ‘smoky’ and such I could understand why. This new location is about a year or so old and is fairly large. Despite the clean, shopping mall exterior, it has this wonderfully dark, smutty, grungy feel inside. The music is loud, drinks are strong and they’ve found a way around the city’s ban of happy hours. Get there early and the drinks are simply twice the normal size. They could use a better ventilation system as the smoke does choke after a while.
Other Sound staffers Kat and Eli were in charge of the day’s early festivities which came in the form of a cookout in the parking lot. There were the usual choices of food with but one selection of burgers stood out from the crowd. They were brought by Jen and all of her earlier bragging proved to be on the mark. After one of those, I had a hotdog. Before the food, I needed an energy boost. I was still feeling the effects of my sleep deprivation. An energy drink would do me good. So it to the bar for some Jager and Redbull. Gross? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.
Outside I saw Lou from One Hand Loves the Other. I had been looking forward to seeing them again. I met them for the first time at WE Fest XI in North Carolina and then again when they came to NYC for a gig at The Annex. More than just a fan of their sound, I love them as people. Humble, warm, funny and all the other things you want everyone to possess. I met Mary who has taken over cello responsibilities recently. I tried to sneak up on keyboardist Nancy and noise beat meister Mikey, but they saw me coming. Hugs and smiles all around.
Inside at the bar, Nancy, Mikey and I were catching up when Nancy turns to me and says, “Has the first band started yet?” I looked over and saw the crowd turned to look at the side stage and assumed that yes they had. Tonight’s set up was much like last night with two performance areas to keep the show moving. There was also a swimming pool set up off to the side of the back bar area. More on that later. We walked closer to where No Disassemble were playing. They have a very quiet, minimalist sound that was easily lost to the rattle and hum of the bar. But up close, the crowd was quiet and attentive.
On the main stage were the psychedelic pop songs of Silent Kids. There sound comes from a love for vintage instruments and style. Over on the side came two members of the band Novelift hailing from Nashville. Moody songs and pained vocals over subtle piano are reminiscent of Radiohead. Keeping with the atmospheric direction of the night, but taking it to a higher level was Jupiter Watts. A smooth textured sound with just the right amount of volume you just close your eyes and sway to, losing yourself. From time to time they change things up to snap you back to reality, but soon you’re swaying again.
And now for something completely different. The Orphans were a manic burst of energy. Mixing psycho surf with spastic new wave they whipped the crowd into a frenzy. At times it was hard to distinguish the band members from the fans. Mikey from One Hand Loves the Other—who were up next—told me this was his favorite band. The hazards of mixing tradition with technology became apparent thanks to a dead battery in the cello of all things. Once over that brief hump, One Hand Loves the Other poured thru a set that gave me the usual spinal chills. There is so much going on here that I usually wind up just staring and smiling.
During one of breaks to escape the smoke of the club I met a girl named Monica. After a brief few moments of small talk, I realize Monica is a singer/songwriter who calls herself Nerdkween. We’ve actually been friends on MySpace for a little while now but as always, it’s better meeting people in person. Nina and I were getting hungry. Jacque had gone home and we knew we’d have to wait for a ride. So we resorted to our old nemesis … a big bag of potato chips. Oh how I can’t resist junk food. I gotta work on that. Back inside the club, it was time to find out exactly what the pool was all about.
All summer long, the band Club Awesome has been throwing these pool parties. They rent a three-foot deep pool, stock it with blow up toys and revelers frolic in the water while the band plays their brand of beach party dance rock. Sure looked like fun. Closing the night was the decent, up-tempo pop of Luigi. They mixed nice dual-guitar parts with raspy yet innocent sounding vocals. In between songs their guitarist would mock everyone for not getting in and their singer would taunt him saying he didn’t have the nerve to dive in himself. After the set, he proved her wrong by walking off the stage and straight into the water.
The closest I got to water was the many cups I was drinking. For no particular reason, I had decided to not drink very much on this trip. I was too busy running around taking pictures to worry about getting loaded. A funny moment at the bar was, at the end of the night when I got water for and Nina. I left a tip on the bar as I had done all night because I honestly think, no matter what they are serving, they’re serving. So water or whatever gets a tip. The bartender yelled to everyone sitting at the bar, “Y’all can learn from this man. He tips on water! Y’all don’t even tip on beer!” Now I knew why there were ‘Tip Your Bartenders Well’ stickers everywhere.
Kim gave Nina and me a ride back to Jacque’s house. By the time we got there, Jacque had fallen asleep. At first we couldn’t get Gidget to bark because she knew who it was. But after knocking and ringing the bell, she did and Jacque woke up. She apologized for locking the door, but we really didn’t mind. We were both very thankful that I still had half of my Cuban sandwich in the fridge. Splitting that in two and watching some late-night HBO was just what we needed to end the day.
