Perhaps I Should Elaborate

I used to play guitar, once a week, with a group of friends. Coincident with the birth of Lydia, my free time to devote to "the band" kind of disappeared, and I was replaced by a guy named Dave. Said band then got their shit in order and promptly got themselves a gig, which was last night at The Frigate. I, along with three others, attended.

First though, I'd like to recount the story of my being chastised by a bridge commissionaire lady for paying the rejected quarters of the car ahead of us, which had stopped and was impeding our forward progress. Apparently this is illegal, or so I was informed repeatedly, although I'm not sure which was the illegal part: paying the toll or hanging out the car window to reach the coin reject slot. Either way, my impressions of the bridge police as crotchety old self-righteous bitties with too little to do has not changed. Right...

The Frigate is located beneath the Pogue Fado and next to the hipster hangout Tribeca. It is nautically-themed, tiny and lacking in places to sit down (intentional I'm sure). The crowd was an odd mix of friends of the band and what I'm assuming were the Frigate regulars - dolled-up divorcees and buff military-looking dudes and sad-looking overweight guys (sorry, that sounded really snobby, but...). The band did fine, playing everything we used to play, plus a few new covers - in particular, a My Morning Jacket cover that sounded exceptionally tight. We clapped, cheered, pat them on the back and clinked bottles. No awkwardness. No apologies. Minimal inappropriate touching. Then we were driven out by the next band, who were horrid beyond words.

All in all, it was a fun night that I am still paying for.

3.5 hours.