Rock-n-Roll...Suburban Style

I don't see live music too often anymore--my last big show was U2 a year ago--for these reasons:
1. Tickets and babysitters are expensive.
2. We no longer live in Manhattan and therefore have to drive.
3. The cool shows run late, and my kids wake up early.

But when I lived in the city, seeing live music was one of my favorite things to do. Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Roseland Ballroom...I'm practically tearing up just thinking about the awesome times I've had at these (and other) venues.

Nowadays, when I do get to see live music, the experience is...shall we say...different. Take last night, for example. I went to a local bar/restaurant, Victor's, to see my neighbor's band play. Victor's is a total dive--there's really no other way to describe it. The place was even recently overhauled but a fresh coat of paint can't mask its divey-ness. Manhattan dives often have sexy histories: maybe Bob Dylan strummed guitar there or Dylan Thomas croaked there or Sid Vicious shot up there. But a local dive has just seen the same sad sacks year after year. And you won't find any cute bartenders at Victor's, just the same surly dude who's been working there for years (decades?).

Another big difference between last night and seeing a band in NYC was the crowd. There wasn't a hipster to be found at Victor's. The closest was a Joey Ramone look-alike. But he wasn't a hipster, he was just a weird dude who was stuck in the past and obviously hadn't cut his hair in years. And the women were all decked out--tight jeans, sparkly tank-tops, and stilettos (in a dive bar!)--with very big hair. They were also sorta old. It was totally Real Housewives of Westchester (but with less money).

In Manhattan, chicks at rock shows do not ever let on that they're trying to look hot. The goal is to look disheveled and little dirty--as if you couldn't care less about your appearance--but then somehow achieve the effect of being smokin' hot. It's not easy, folks.

Oh, and there were at least ten obvious alcoholics in the crowd last night.

But the music was loud, the band rocked, the crowd sang along, and the beer was cold. Not too different, after all.