billiards and bands.

So last week me and some buddies head out to the caterie a local dive of a restaurant/bar/live music venue. This place is in dire need of some serious renovations or a good fire. I will admit that back in the day The Bayou was the local shit hole of a bar. It was one of those places where the stench of the bar greeted you 200 feet before the entrance. That title of BR shittiest bar has now unequivocally been claimed by the caterie. This place has great food if you like a heart attack in a box and great drink specials but you don't go there for the atmosphere as the atmosphere is toxic.

So Vance, Richey, Naomi (the glue of this random situation) and I are all out par-taying. I have played pool plenty many times but you haven't played pool till you have played at the caterie. There are no billiards sharks that go to this place. The tables are covered with stains of every sort, from long stains to short round stains to I can only guess what caused that stain. I insert my 3 three quarters into the table and out comes our 4X (1 balls) and a hodgepodge of random balls that make it possible to play but not by any stretch of your imagination a conventional game. The tables with one exception were all missing a cue ball as if some sorry teenager on a drunken rampage stole them all. The change machine was out of order. The shotty craftsmanship of the rail upstairs instilled a meager amount of faith in me only when I was too tanked to care anymore. Finally, the shear number of smoke stacks in this place definitely reminded me that living in Baton Rouge can get worse, as if the air is not polluted enough already. If you can't tell I was really impressed by this SHIT HOLE...

Screw playing pool I gave up and started to check out The Anteeks. These guys though a cover band have a guitarist, whose name escapes, me that has mad chops. His ability to technically play his instrument of choice was quite impressive. I was really impressed and that is rare. They chose a string of songs that were familiar soundscapes of my past, a reminder of many great distant memories from my years as a teenager here in BR. Good thing those days are gone they were more like night terrors than fond memories.

These guys were followed by Anisette. Go Micha. I have known Micha the guitarist from this band for over half of my life. They rocked the house and finished the night off. Then home I went. The next morning I rode the hell out of my bike trying to burn off the high octane liquid diet from the night before. BTW, the training is comming along great. My intervals are faster harder and longer than before. I know that sounds horrible but I am talking about bicycle intervals for all you dirty minded people out there.

LAE,
Jr