Friday, Mar. 08, 2002 - 9:26 a.m.
Heather had a thing she had to go to for school last night, so I dropped her off and headed over to the Engine Room to wait for her. I was overjoyed to find that Fuller's draughts were only $2.50, about half of what they cost anywhere else in town. Things got better when the bartender put on The Essential Radio Birdman. I played some pinball. Bride of Pinbot tilted on me, like it always does, so I mostly stuck to Jokerz, which I prefer anyway, since it's old school. They have some newer games there (Elvira, Nightmare on Elm Street, and revenge from Mars), but I find the older games a little more challenging, and the point structures aren't nearly as ridiculous. The Engine Room also has a Tapper arcade game.
After Heather showed up, we went next door to the 40 Watt to see Clem Snide. The opener was The Pee Wee Fist, which was all of the guys from Clem Snide except the lead singer playing lo-fi country songs. The bass player played most of the basslines on one of those cheesy keyboards shaped like a guitar instead of his electric bass. At one point, the bassist rocked the drum machine on his keyboard and they did an impromptu rendition of Puffy's "Bad Boys for Life". Then they couldn't get the drum machine to stop. They were a lot of fun and actually had some really great songs. We watched about half of Clem Snide's set, since they didn't go on until after midnight and Heather had school in the morning. I would have liked to watch the rest of the set, but I probably would have fallen asleep. It's hard to listen to melancholic music like that at that hour after a few drinks. I really did dig the bowed banjo work, though, and anyone who brings a sousaphone on tour with them is ok by me.
Tom is coming to town tomorrow, and staying for a few days. He's on his spring break, which doesn't mean a whole lot, since he's done with classes and working on his dissertation. We'll see if he gets drunk enough to think that he's Simon LeBon.
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