Hee hee, no you wud have been bored with THE COVE . Actually you wud have probably loved the BRASS MONKEY BAR . In the all ironical department THE COVE was a pit that thought it was the most sophisticated night club in the entire south , urine drenched carpeting in the men's bathroom and all! THE BRASS MONKEY BAR knew it was a dive but was actually a pretty cool place . Unlike THE COVE to there was hardly any trouble , can't recall ever getting thrown into a big brawl and whenever I took my shoes off it was to chill or dance not hit some fool .
THE BRASS MONKEY was in a wild area and it's electric sign was dying , it was always blinking MONKEY BAR ,MONKEY BAR , MOKEY BAR !! And the parking lot was dirt which became a sea of mud whenver it rained ( my friend Corvah is still wondering what happened to a imitation Gucci boot she lost getting out of the car ) and inside was no better.The place was filthy , the plaster walls were cracking and if you loked hard you could see a few bullet holes . The bathrooms ( ahhhhh!! ) were called the BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA to be used only in a emergency . Condoms were sold in the women's one and dope in both .Thee was a huge band and and stairwell behind it where people went to get friendly or high .The tables all had knife carvings on them.......................
The atmosphere though was really something . Always had great bands on week-ends no matter what kind of music they played .The owner Stevie ( looked like a slime with bling and a polyester loud shirt open to his huge belly but he had a heart of gold ) had a real open and fun attitude , al were welcome . The crowd was a good mix and everyone got along since we all loved the atmosphere. About 75% white -25% black with most being blue collar and 20'ish like moi . But also alot of yuppie types who weren't obnoxious about it , some middle aged guys who had bank ( one's now a big state judge here) , some real snake- eater cops who hunted escaped convicts ,and even sometimes these southern fryed versions of the mafia goons on the SOPRANOS there for high stakes pool matches .. You never knew who you'd end up dancing with or talking too ( or sometimes kissing or going home with ) when you walked in the door . The only thing we could be sure of is we'd behaving a great time.
Some of the wilder times : some poor geek type was actually crying since his wife had left him and my best freind Leslie who is a dancer gave me a pick-me up lap dance that raised both his spirits and something else : seeing this big white middle aged UPS executive at a table full of young blue collar black guys in a heated discussion about basketball ( it's a religion to many here that they can get to excited about ) , and when dead drunk I got onstage to sing with the band but fell off & after getting back up with dirt all over me just went back to drinking shooters !
Sad to say there was trouble and the place was paddlelocked by the sheriffs . Thinking about how fun it was I am almost crying now , even though it's morning here have the intense desire to put on a mini ,take off my undies ,and go drive around looking for someplace like it .....................
Alive in spite of myself and looking at the world .........
