Last Friday, Staci came into town visiting from Houston. You all remember Staci, right? My friend that used to accompany me for music nights out, but then deserted us for this guy and split to Houston. Well they're engaged now, so I guess I'll forgive her. Just kidding, Staci! Congrats, girl!
We decided to have girls' night out and invited Kel and my friend Margie. But Margie got sick and Kel wimped due to weather (just kidding, Kel, I don't blame you for avoiding the sleet, but you should have come, we had fun).
So, Staci and I just decided to play it by ear and ended up hopping around the Northeast side. We were hungry, so we headed over to Bennigan's for some food and a little Deja Vu.
If you go to Bennigan's, you have to try the Turkey O'Toole. This is an awesome sandwich. "Juicy turkey breast sliced thin, melted Swiss cheese and our Smoky Honey Dijon dressing. Served hot on a Bennigan's pretzel roll." Not to be eaten neatly. You'll definitely want to request a moist towelette afterwards. But it's worth the mess. Freakin' yummy!
I ate the whole thing. Then we waddled out to the tent to catch Deja Vu. It was great to see Brett and Robert back together with the band. Brett was even more hyper than the other times I've seen them, and even did some rapping - pretty good for a white guy! I missed the kilt, though.
We also got quite a bit of entertainment from the people at the next table, who were having a VERY GOOD TIME!! I can't figure out why I had to have a server carry my beer out to the tent, though. How is that any different from carrying a beer, say, out to the patio at Jack's? TABC has some weird rules.
After we'd had our fill of Deja Vu and were a little less full from those scrumptious sandwiches, we decided to head over to Broadway Bar and wish Nathan of Papa Wood a Happy Birthday.
Well, I waved at Nathan, but never got to tell him Happy Birthday, because we quickly realized that Broadway Bar is Not My Kind of Place. Sorry, Nathan and a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
The band sounded great, as usual. They did a great job on "Steady As She Goes" by the Raconteurs. Good song. And Nathan looked like he was having a good birthday. We laughed when he promised to "sound good as long as I can." I was impressed by the number of people who were just standing in front of the stage, watching the band. You don't see that a lot with cover bands in bars. Papa Wood had quite a crowd up there. Impressive.
Broadway Bar is a nice bar, but I can't stand those meat market clubs. Jampacked with beautiful people trying to hook up with other beautiful people...not for me. Too crowded, too hot, too hard to get a beer, impossible to carry on a conversation. We had one beer, then headed over to 321 Max to see Hogg Shedd.
That turned out to be more of a change than we were looking for. There was hardly anyone in 321 Max. We talked to the bartender some, enjoyed Hogg Shedd doing "Godzilla" - love that song! Mostly I was distracted by the weird beer bottle I had. A metal bottle...never seen one before. Have you seen these new aluminum bottles? They're pretty cool. Plus they're thick and keep your beer colder.
It was getting late, but we had a little time left, so we decided to head back towards my house and stop in on the way to visit with N'Somnia. I always enjoy the music, and the guys and their friends are so nice! I love Val's voice, especially on "Perfect Strangers" and on any Led Zeppelin song. And Jeff always shreds on guitar.
I missed Rick, their keyboarist/flutist, who had a heart attack last month, but I hear he's mending nicely and will be back in action soon. I'm so happy to hear that!
Ah, it was good to get a night out to hear good music and visit with friends! It's been awhile.