Friday, February 20, 2009

HOW BIZARRE, HOW BIZARRE....

Last night was another one of those nights where the bizarre ruled. From drunken antics, to overheard comments that made you stop in your tracks to a strange interaction that led to a guy being taken away in handcuffs, it was a doozy of a night.

First the antics. For a night that wasn't quite that busy, we saw enough strange things that would have led you to believe that the place was swamped. There was the emo groupies that camped out in the Champagne Room and sang soft songs during Happy Hour. An interesting bunch. Then the potheads who came into the bar and gave the whole place an instant contact high within seconds. Bless their hearts. Can't forget about the lipstick lesbians who tried to pick up AMY SMART's little sister, who'd just arrived for a visit with her mom in tow. Welcome to New York, little sis.

What was probably the most bizarre incident of the night, however, took place when a young, white-collar fella bolted INTO the bar (as opposed to bolting OUT of the bar), ordered a beer and sat down, and immediately tried to make himself look busy. Very strange. Moments later, two guys came into the bar and immediately rolled up beside the guy and gave him a very hard stare. The first guy, trying to start a conversation with a guy on the other side of him, very much tried to avoid making eye contact with the two, irate-looking gents. I was in the middle of a conversation with a friend that I hadn't seen in a long time and stopped in mid sentence to see what was going on, since my spider-senses were telling me that something was about to go down.

"Gentlemen, is everything alright?" (my classic catchphrase whenever I step between two adversaries ready to throw down).

The white-collar guy said "I don't have a problem with anybody, I'm just trying to enjoy a beer.".

I then turned to the two irate-looking gents and asked the same question to which one turned slowly to me and said: "NO, EVERYTHING IS NOT ALRIGHT". He then began to tell the story about how the white-collared gentleman was involved in an altercation at one of the bars down the street and ended up punching one of their friends from behind before taking off down the street. Which explains his "bolting" into the bar and ordering the quick beer. They wanted the white-collar guy to come outside so that they could "discuss" the matter.

I looked back at the white-collar guy and he began speaking in tongues about not knowing what they were talking about; eventually he began to contradict himself to the point where it became obvious that he was the guy they were looking for. Now with three fellas from another bar now about to cause a scene in our place, I suggested that all parties take their beef outside. The two guys were agreeable to my suggestion while Mr. White-Collar wasn't as anxious to take me up on it. Eventually we got all parties outside and watched closely as Mr. White-Collar tried to explain his way out of his mess. Just as he was about to get a taste of street justice, the cavalry arrived: Yes the police. The guys, sensing that they were going to get pinched if they stuck around, decided to leave but not without giving Mr. White-Collar a wicked tongue-lashing.

As it turns out, Mr. White-Collar was involved in an altercation where he sucker-punched someone in the face from behind. And instead of being the wise chicken and running off into the night after his dirty deed, he instead, ran into our bar and tried to blend into the crowd. There were enough witnesses around to point him out and he ended up getting led away in handcuffs. Which at the time was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. Because street justice wouldn't have been very kind to him, that's how pissed these guys were at what he did. Again, bizarre stuff.

FUNNIEST COMMENT OVERHEARD LAST NIGHT: A young lady, clearly not happy with her self-image, proclaiming that she called out from work because she was "too fat". Yes, too fat. She couldn't fit into her fat pants so she didn't go to work. I think the exact term she used was "I called out fat". Ladies and gentlemen, you can't make this stuff up. I shit you not.

On another note, my good friend from Britain, GLENN arrived last night with about ten friends in tow to celebrate his 40th birthday this weekend. And he chose our bar as one of his planned destinations. We met many years ago when he was here on a visit with a few of his friends and we hit it off right away. He's been here many times since and always sends his friends our way when they come to New York to visit. A great friend to the bar and a good bloke to boot.

WEEKEND HAPPENINGS:

FRIDAY: "After-Work Happy Hour" (5-10pm), featuring $4.00 Mixed Well Drinks and Domestic Drafts! It's also our "MARDI-GRAS KICKOFF", featuring the return of the "Drinkin' with Lincoln" special (Miller High Life bottles, 2/$5.00), $3.00 Hurricane or SoCo Lime Shots (10pm-Midnight).


SATURDAY: "Kick the Keg" Saturday (12pm-8pm), featuring $2.00 mugs, ALL BEERS ON TAP (except Delirium Tremens). Saturday Night brings us "Hockey Night in New York", featuring Molson Ice/Molson Golden or Labatt's Blue buckets, 5/$15.00; $3.00 Hurricane or SoCo Lime shots (8pm-Midnight).



Nuff Said