Walkin' Around Checkin' Stuff Out. #58
Church Basement Jazz.
Friends of ours invited us to see some Jazz in the basement of a church. Seems like a strange place to see live music and drink wine, but this is a Catholic church, so there’s that. I will say the odds of finding us in a church are close to, but not zero. There’s the usual weddings and of course we like a good fish fry so it’s not like we don’t know what the inside of a church looks like. Erin (with a heart over the ‘i’) was very friendly and hooked us up with admission and drink tickets for the night.
With drink tickets in hand we hit the bar. Gotta love the Catholics and their wine. I grew up in a Catholic family and remember drinking and dancing being the main ingredients of any get together. I think this was the same guy running the bar at the fish fry...gotta hand it to him, he knows how to raise his hand and volunteer for the best job at these things.
“An Evening in Paris” was the theme of the night, complete with French decorations, French outfits, French music and French wine. Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. I don’t think the wine was French, it came out of a box, but whatever.
I mentioned outfits...there were some good ones. Let this guy cut in line at the bar...-that’s a nice set-up with the beret and pinkish themed outfit.
How about this woman...she went all-in with the Flapper vibes. If there was an award for ‘Best Dressed’, she would have gotten it. She was looking good enough to send older gentlemen straight to the confession booth.
The band was great, playing the music of Django Reinhardt and it sounded great. I always say there’s no one happier than a musician who’s playing music.
There’s some good people watching in a church basement event. This guy was great...totally outfitted with the swoops like he’s ready to get airborne on the dance floor.
I love the stand-up bass. Such an impractical instrument compared to an electric bass, but so much more fun to watch.
They had quite an appetizer spread...lots of little things served at the end of long toothpicks. French? I don’t know, are meatball hors d'oeuvres big in France? (Our friend snuck in a flask of fun, but I’ll let him tell that story in the confession booth.)
I love watching a stand-up bass player sort of hug and wrestle and dance with that giant instrument.
Four musicians working together to lay down some cool music is a great thing to watch. People talk about “teamwork” and for my money this is the best example. Corporate teamwork could sure learn a thing or two from a jazz band, and sports teamwork seems to just be about winning (big contracts).
BINGO! Night at the 1029 Bar.
It’s been a bit since we jumped into a BINGO! game so we hit up the 1029 Bar for lobster rolls and BINGO!. The place was packed...we scored the last seat in the house. People of all ages love themselves some BINGO!. The Caller was way into it...all business, no fluff. He got right to it, read the numbers with zero commentary. BINGO! is no joke to this guy.
It’s McFerrin’s birthday week so in proper fashion she won 2 of the 10 games in a packed house. The odds of that happening are pretty damn slim.
The 1029 is a great old dive bar in Northeast Minneapolis. It’s known for being a “cop bar” and also bras hanging from the ceiling. Oh and they serve killer lobster rolls. Tell me how any of those things go together. They don’t, which makes this such a great bar.
Lovely entry! Which church has the jazz?
Love the sketches, love the journey. Thanks!