The Fine Line…

Last evening, Valentine’s Day, David and I went to The Fine Line Café in Downtown Minneapolis. Now, I rarely go listen to bands, let alone go to a bar to do it…but last night I gave in and didn’t put up a whinny little fuss. You know what???? I had a great time. The part that bothers me most about going to a bar is the fact that I’m OLD. I feel extremely frumpy in that setting. But it turns out that I’m soooo much older than the average clientele, that it hardly makes any difference anymore. We saw The Good Armada, DandyLion Warpaint, and Black Church Service. I really liked DandyLion Warpaint’s sound, it’s different than other “new” loud music and thank God it wasn’t rap. They reminded me of Incubus. Dawn and Ethan said they sounded a lot like another band, that I can’t remember, but both David and I liked them a lot. It turns out that this was only their 3rd live concert and the drummer is a whopping 17 years old. Their best and biggest fan was there, as she had been at their 2nd concert…Mom! She was so proud, and stopped by our table to say Hi, because she remembered David and Ethan from the last concert. The Good Armada didn’t impress me at all, and that is the band that Ethan really likes. I just wanted to play “mother” and tell them about the balance of their instruments, which were “off”. I think they would have a much better sound if they lowered the volume of their drums and bass guitar. They were so loud that the vocalist couldn’t be heard. Now I understand that the band members want that “loud” sound, but if they balanced their sounds better, they would not only have a “loud” sound, but a “great” sound. Ethan is friends with Elise, who is the girlfriend of the bass player in The Good Armada and the promoter of DandyLion Warpaint. Her bass player boyfriend happens to be the cousin of the lead singer in DandyLion Warpaint. (Ethan, I hope I have all this information correct). Ethan and Dawn joined us after their dinner at Il Gatto, and Ethan, being the person he is, introduced us to the people he knew. It’s so nice to have kids that treat their parents as people! Thank you my wonderful children!! I love you all more than you will ever know. They stayed until DandyLion Warpaint was done, but David and I stayed awhile longer to listen to the guy in the grey and white tights sing in the Black Church Service, and I’m glad we did. I would have suggested we stay until they were done, but I had had too much to drink and my new memory foam bed topper was calling my name….JANet, JAnet, Janet, janet…

We started out the night at home with steak marinated in Raspberry Chipotle sauce, baked red potatoes, sweet potato, mixed vegetables and for dessert, Strawberry Trifle. I made a huge Strawberry Trifle for the birthday party at work and made up two individual servings for our dinner. They were Yummy! We  also had Shiraz with our meal, two glasses for me. I don’t drink very much because of the addictions that run in my family and me, plus the extra unwanted calories. But this wine was tasting very good and wasn’t plugging up my nose the way wine usually does. The stuffiness finally caught up to me along with very Hot, Red ears and an itchy nose. I put a little cover-up on my nose and ignored my ears and went out for some fun.

We found The Fine Line, put money in the meter, showed our ID’s at the door, (snicker), got our hands stamped and walked on in to an almost empty bar. The first band was playing, which was one guy singing with a guitar (his band mate was incognito) who didn’t sound too bad actually.  David started talking to a table of young men, who happened to be in both of the bands we came to see. They were so nice and polite and OMG…Young! When did I get Old? I certainly don’t feel old, but man oh man that mirror sure doesn’t lie.  So anyway, the waiter came on over and told us all mixed drinks and shots were 2 for 1 all night. Yikes! I ordered a wine spritzer with a shot of cranberry juice and David had his usually T & T. (all I can say is..Yum) Later on Ethan ordered us all shots of Sex With an Alligator, (Chambord Raspberry Liqueur, Jagermeister, Midori and Sour Mix) Yuk! I didn’t like the melon taste. The waiter asked me what I thought of it, so I told him I didn’t like the melon and he said he doesn’t like the Jag, but it was still one of his favorites. After we stopped drinking and were just listening, he was nice enough to keep refilling our water glasses. He was a very nice, bald, gay man. I felt very comfortable there, strange huh?

So, Happy Valentines to all!