Buckhead Meets Ghost town
On Friday night I went to see The Zutons and Keane perform at The Roxy in Buckhead. With my extra ticket I dragged my friend Melissa with me since she has talked about her love of live music, and I took a chance that she had never been to The Roxy. The plan was to eat some pizza at Ray’s and head up to The Roxy for the show. Let me preface this next statement by saying that it has been a good five years since I last “went out” in Buckhead. Holy fucking shit! Buckhead has become a ghost town! When I moved to Atlanta ten years ago Buckhead was the destination (even then I was too old, 30, to be out in Buckhead). I am not naive, I have heard the stories about Buckhead residents hating the bars, and have sat in a traffic jam or two on a Saturday, so I expected “change”. What I didn’t expect is the bars to be gone, they have not changed names, they are nonexistent — vanished! Here’s a short list
- Rio Bravo
- Have A Nice Day Cafe
- BAR
- Lu Lu’s Bait Shack
- World Bar
- The Dog House
- John Harvard’s (and whatever it became after this)
- Bier Garten (and whatever it became after this)
This was just walking along Peachtree; I didn’t bother wandering on to the side streets.
Where does Atlanta’s youth go to hook up these days (other than Moe’s & Joe’s). Seriously, I’d like to know…
That’s The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
I live in the worst power grid in the city of Atlanta. I must, since in the last twelve months I have lost power no fewer than five times (this excludes the time my neighbor’s tree fell, and the numerous times I have returned home to see my microwave blinking 88:88). I was one of the lucky 300,000 to lose power on Saturday night — for five and a half hours. Now, before I bitch too much, kudos to the people who repair power lines. I may have sucked for me, but certainly it was worse for them. What can you do with no electricty? I managed to cull twenty t-shirts from my collection, almost clear my bed of stacks of clothing, read two magazines, imagine how romantic it would have been if I had someone there with me, drink beer “before it went bad”, listen to music on my iPod, think how fortunate I am not to be homeless or outdoors like my feral cat-friend JFK. And then the power returned…
From Fine Beers To Decent Movies
One of my big activities planned for Saturday was to partake in the tasting of newly opened cask-conditioned ales at Sweetwater Brewery (why can’t I find a link to them?). Being the beer snob that I am, I signed up for the event two months ago to make sure I could get a ticket. Unfortunately Mother Nature’s annual end of January Atlanta ice storm postoned the event a day. There is something to be said for anticipation and the disappointment when it does pan out, since come Sunday I just couldn’t get up for drinking.
Luckily, Melissa was suffering from a case of cabin fever and convinced me to go to the movies. Neither of us had seen Sideways, so that was the movie of choice. I’m no movie critic, but here is my score 8/10. The acting was excellent, and the story well crafted although I want to leave theaters happy, not down which is how I felt. Was I supposed to take away that the loser wins? I don’t think so.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – nervous: Super Bowl Party ‘T Minus Six Days’
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Belle & Sebastian
Current Read – iPod & iTunes Hacks
Monday Morning Weigh-In
Starting weight – (approx since I didn’t have a scale) 198 lbs
Target weight – 178 lbs
Current weight – 196 lbs (one month down, missed my target, no time to panic)
Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Apparently you haven’t stepped into some of the clubs in midtown lately. Yikes! Makes one feel old really fast. But if you are particularly looking for “younguns” try Vision, and Eleven 50. Halo isn’t quite as young, but still a younger crowd. But the worst place of all has to be Club Europe. Steer clear!!
As for Buckhead, I still love Fado. Great food, great live bands, and the best beer on tap. Other than that, you’ll have to venture to Underground…that’s where everything has moved to.
I was only without power for 3 hours…gotta love ice!
Before I am thoroughly chastised, I realize that Club Europe is NOT in midtown. I was shaking so badly from nightmares of attending that God-forsaken place, I failed to mention it is almost OTP.
Chastized? By moi? 🙂
Never been a real “clubber”. The only time I have been to any of the clubs which you mentioned was for a wine tasting at 1150. I am far too old, too uncool, to improperly dressed to go to the clubs these days. Give me Gravity Pub, The Earl, Brewhouse, et al and I’m a satisfied, albeit lonely, man.
Thing is, I had to go a couple of times, just to see for myself. I stopped before all of my nine lives were used.
Only been to one of the places you mentioned. Yet, I’m thinking you need to branch out. Not clubbing, but try some new places…maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for.