Last night My wife, Mick the drummer and I went to check out a place in Arlington called Tommy's bar and grill. We pulled into a dive bar parking lot fully expecting the type of atmosphere that such environs are accustom to. I was also expecting some to be organizing the event as it has been advertised via CL for the last two months "8-11". We showed up at about 9:00 walk into what is a tiny and crowded poorly lit (even for a bar) room with lots of smoke and a guy on a stage with a Karaoke machine up and a mic in his hand blasting out " I just called to say I love you..." We happened to walk in just in time to hear the ear splitting Key change! so then we amble through the crowd to the bar and watch as the bar tender seems busy yet avoiding eye contact from every on near by. About a minutes worth of three people queued up ready to order drinks had passed when she was finally with in ear shot of my rumbling "Howdy!" to which she responded with a rolling of eyes and an immediate and brisk trot towards the back supply office. So I says to the folks I'm there with, I says " Hey Follow my lead" and I turn heel and just walked out the door. That's right, I went all Jack Burton on that shithttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQTp5BL5MMU
But then when I got outside I noticed that while Mick the Drummer was next to me laughing and saying things like " Yeah lets get the **** out" my wife was inside. Apparently she didn't hear me. And she is still patiently waiting for the bar tender chick with fried out what-the-hell-when-did-she-pull-up-in-her-time-machine-from-1991 hair. So I found myself there standing in the door way of a bar, it could be any bar in any town in America; and there she was standing prim and proper and poised ready to make contact to communicate with the wilds and I knew that I loved her with such veracity that I couldn't scream to the top of my lungs "WHAT THE **** WOMAN I SAID FOLLOW MY LEAD". it was at this interesting watershed moment that bubba trucker hat guy stood up and asked if i wanted to play something. I kind of laughed and then walked out again, this time my wife followed my lead. Then we get in the car and she reveals "Well I heard you say follow my lead but I didn't know what that meant."
I share this story to illustrate my frustration with these smaller places trying to set up open mic or even weekly jam nights. ( thats a hot trend coming your way Scott) I wish there had been something proclaiming the open mic, I think bubba trucker hat should have been a bit more hospitable the frist time he noticed three knew humans walked into his bar... I think that bar tenders should at least be slightly human if they want to have people around them enjoy themselves. Then again I guess it could be the age old difference between pubs and bars at work there.
I was about to opine that it would be nice if some one out there could rate the local venues in an easy to under stand fasion. maybe we could attempt some sort of wikki project where we can inform our friends here at musicDFW about the idiosyncratic nature of each of the places we come into contact with? Pray do tell me thine thoughts!
