Diving into Dive Bars

Last night I was supposed to go on a dive bar hunting adventure, which I haven't done in a long time. It's pretty cool to stumble upon a gem of a dive bar, where the beer is cheap, the folks are nice (albeit usually a little odd, but then again, I am too) and if they have food, it's usually pretty damn good. Sometimes, the best places are off the beaten path.

We ended up going to one bar to meet someone my friend knew, so it wasn't technically a dive bar hunting adventure like we planned, but it surely was a dive bar. There was some interesting stuff going on between an chunkier woman and a man without his shirt on -- but had his sunglasses on - and I wished I had my video camera because I would have be a YouTube star contributor, but it was entertaining. But even though it looked odd to me, it was second nature at this place, as no one seemed to mind. So, I let it go too. The beers were cheap the shots were $2.50!! Wow! No wonder we did so many.

But the whole point of my story is that sometimes its more fun to give your regular bar the night off and go somewhere, the opposite of Cheers, where NO ONE knows your name. You can get fun and get silly and no one knows you. It's great.

I also realized how old I am getting, which isn't a bad thing. But I just don't dig dance music of today, all that hip-hop stuff from the late 90s until now. I mean, I don't hate it, but I prefer it at a dance club. So anyway this bar had an older DJ, so I thought my request for Bon Jovi or Tom Petty or something fun from the 70s or 80s would have been an immediate play. But no. An hour passed and me and my friend were getting tired of the music. So, I reminded him and he said, "Oh, I thought you left. I will get it on soon." So, it was almost 1am before I heard the catchy beginning of "American Girl" and me and my friend went nuts, but noticed that everyone left the dance floor. It was kinda comical, but I didn't car. I danced with my Miller Lite bottle, bopping around to my favorite song while everyone else in the bar got a refill or went pee. Then, he segued right into Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" which brought everyone back on the floor, and everyone who wasn't dancing was singing along and fist-pumping, and I happily thought to myself, "I did this!" Then, the DJ went back and played "We Are Family" and "It's Raining Men" before going back into the shit music. So, at least I had a string of four songs I knew and had fun listening to.

The music last night just made me realize how much I enjoy the songs I grew up with, and how I never get sick of them and how I can't get into most of the music today, namely the hip-hop. Maybe it's a sign of me turning 30 and how I never wanted to let go of the teen years? Not sure. But whatever it is- let's not forget that good music.