Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wet, Wild & Woolly Weekend

This past weekend was certainly a whirlwind, starting with a quick nip after work on Thursday at the Cedarwood Lounge attached to the Willi Bowling Alley - not exactly the most glamorous place, but the drinks are strong, big & cheap....like some men I know...

Friday night, Bernie & accompanied Lushy Luke to the incredibly hideous Sneakers Sports Bar in Ashford (I would like to point out it was LL's idea and we are such loyal friends that we agreed to go). The pictures in the link make the place look good; I'm pretty sure we were the only three in there with a full set of teeth and not wearing plaid. The two video games they have are Bowling & Extreme Hunting and some scary looking guy was using the air hockey table as a coat rack. I'll bet the air hockey table is the cause of most of those people losing their teeth - extreme puck action! I think I drank all the Stoli they had in the two hours we were there....and then it was.....

Saturday.

I started off the day hungover because I apparently over-consumed during the two hours I was tortured at the above-mentioned redneck hell-hole. Fortunately, instead of feeling sorry for myself all day, I knew we had plans for the evening: hanging out with Miss Wendy in New London to celebrate her birthday at the Hygienic Art 29 festivities!

We had a restorative dinner at the Asian Bistro, then headed out to the Whaling City after switching outerwear and clothing around. We stopped first at the Golden Street Gallery and saw some great pieces by the artists featured there - it was also sanely populated, which was nice. On our way there, we popped in to see the work being done on the old El 'n' Gee club - they have completely redone the bathrooms (hooray- it had gotten CBGB-esque in those loos!) with Joan Jett & Johnny Cash painted on the doors, a new bar shaped like a guitar, new floors, and they've removed the separator between the bar & stage. The guys working told us the plan was to have a variety of acts, from theater to comedy to music. However, one of the local artists said she had heard it was being turned into a "gentlemen's club" - let's hope not.

We then popped over to Sarge's Comics (the Popular Place for Anniversaries & Birthdays!) and touched everything, but had to leave because they were closing. Miss Wendy did try to convince me to bargain for the Promethea action figure that's been sitting there forever....but I wasn't up to it.

So then, off to the events! It was icy cold out, which meant that once people were in a building, it was tough to get them out. We were not able to get into any of the rock shows at any time as the two clubs were seriously packed. We did give the Hygienic Gallery a try, but I got halfway through before having a major attack of claustrophobia & sprinting out the back door. There was very little to be seen well because there was no room to back up and look at any of the work- a return trip is necessary! Bernie & I managed to find & extricate Miss Wendy, then we all decided we needed drink, because after all, it was a birthday celebration.

We ended up at the Bank Street Roadhouse (which is generally rednecky on non-festival nights, but quite tolerable on this Saturday) and the Rivergods were playing- a very nice, upbeat set for sure (Fun Fact: Nancy from the Rivergods is the sister of my immediate supervisor). Drinks du nuit were vodka tonics and gin & tonics for Bernie. It started getting a little crowded in there so we moved on.

We left and looked at the other clubs, noticing the clientele at this point were spilling onto the sidewalk- no way we were going to shove our way into that! We ended up at a restaurant bar for the rest of the evening having a nice chat & more drinks before heading home.

Thanks, Wendy, for letting us celebrate with you!

10 comments:

Wendy said...

Thanks for the evening as well. I had a great time. Sorry I hated your card so much... :P

CL said...

Despite the waves of humanity spilling over into the streets of New London, it sounded like a lovely time.

Wish I was there...but I was too sick. :-(

And yes, Sarge's Comics is THE place for celebrating life's milestones! Happy Birthday Wendy!!

The Queen said...

Wendy: I have to say we were really surprised by how violently you slammed the card on the ground & stomped all over it. But, it survived & still works so you will get it back....

CL said...

Are you guys gonna tell us the story of the card, or what?

The Queen said...

As I recall, we gave Wendy her card after dinner, and she opened it expectantly, then her lips narrowed as the full impact of the card hit her- I assumed at the time she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she was barely holding back the tears.

So, after the evening’s festivities, we dropped Wendy back at her house. Bernie reminded her to take the card and the strangest thing happened: Wendy, her eyes blazing, exclaimed ‘Great Hera, what tripe is this being created in patriarch’s world?!!?’, grabbed the card, flung it violently on the ground & proceeded to stomp on it repeatedly before stalking up the stairs to her lofty apartment. We peeled the card off the road, opened it and it was still able to play the little Japanese jingle about Wonder Woman’s strange sexual proclivities…

C. Margery Kempe said...

I can't wait to see the card!

I wish we could have been there for the festivities. Waah! I would have helped card stomping, touching everything in Sarge's and of course, downing G-n-Ts.

I have the Promethea action figure :-P

I recall with a shudder of horror the bathrooms at the El 'n Gee. But I shuddered more at this:

I'm pretty sure we were the only three in there with a full set of teeth and not wearing plaid.

The horror, the horror!

The Queen said...

Oh, well now I have to get the Promethea figure - maybe we can have a playdate with all our dolls...ahem...ACTION figures....

The card stomping was majestic.

CL said...

Promethea??

Shoot, I'm waiting for the new Jimmy Page figure to out in April!

I just saw it in the latest Previews...Jimmy in his white dragon suit waving the bow! Excellent!!

Now if they would only come out with a Ronnie James Dio action figure...

C. Margery Kempe said...

Would it be anatomically correct?

Har har har!

Yes, playdate -- I can bring my John Constantine, Swamp Thing and Chinese baby hopping ghost -- and Marupilami!

Wendy said...

I had a friend who always wanted to shoot a photo-comic with his action figures. I suggested that we "film" Sartre's No Exit.

Queen: you so exactly captured my reaction to the card, it was like I was almost there -- and sober.