The Power of Me (and why you should thank me)

jonahpwll

I move from Chicago to middle of nowhere Kentucky. I like to drink. Kentucky, inexplicably, is mostly dry, a confounding fact considering they produce kajillions of barrels of bourbon annually. The county I moved to is called 'moist', which means no bars (dammit!), but restaurants can serve alcohol. This is a recent development. So, at least I can have a beer while I watch the game. Except on Sundays, because, you know, of God. But now that's changed. Beginning maybe next week, I can watch the Bears on the large screen at the joint down the street and have a Pacifico or dos. This can't be a coincidence. They go from dry to moist not long before I move down here, as if anticipating me, and now, shortly after my arrival, Bears and beer can live happily together in my life on football Sunday, as if they were trying to placate me. There can be no alternative to these grandiose hypotheses. I have altered reality.
Your appreciation may begin now.

mommio

LOL! Natives (and old-timers) know to stock up, as well as where to stock up. I remember when we had to cross the river to Indiana to do ANY shopping on Sunday. Blue laws. Shopping center parking lots would be full of cars with Kentucky tags. I'm so old I can even remember when stores closed around 6:00 pm and were open only one night of the week, usually a Monday or a Friday. My, how things have changed.

I have been listening to the University of Kentucky pregame show -- Ralph Hacker said years ago he and "Wah Wah" Jones used to head out on the road for broadcasting duties. They would take a "tub of beer, a bunch of Vienna sausage, and crackers," stop somewhere along the way to play some golf, then head on to the game. He said that was just so much fun. (Poor UK. They are playing Alabama today.)

jonahpwll

As far as non-Louisville Kentucky goes, I don't have it too bad. I can get a drink at about four different places seven days a week, and with two more opening on the horizon, I'll have six different spots (which, believe me, is a lot in a town of under 10,000). Also, the county to the north has liquor stores (ours doesn't), and it's only about fifteen minutes to the county line; in Chicago, it takes fifteen minutes just to get out of the driveway. And seriously, Louisville is only an hour fifteen away from our front door; again, it takes that long just to get from one neighborhood to the next in Chicago, so I'm not feeling too down about my liquor choices. However, I admit to being a bit sad that I don't have a neighborhood bar to go to, like they've got in Louisville's Germantown. Y'know, a bar that's just a renovated house, serves fried chicken on Wednesday, fish fry on Fridays. Decent selection of beer in cans, a couple bourbons. They support local charities. Everyone has been going there forever, even if they've moved out of the neighborhood. No flash, all roots and soil. A tv in the corner, sound off, sports on. Music coming from somewhere, Johnny Cash or Van Morrison. The old lady tending the bar, while she's getting your food together, says, sweetie, just go behind the bar and get yourself a couple Fall Cities. I work in a small office at the main intersection in downtown. It's where it's at. Cute little Main Street anchored by the library, the office I work in, an optomostrist, the library, and a little grocery store with a lunch counter and credit accounts for locals like my grandparents used to have back in the day in Chicago. I live about six blocks away. I have to admit that a few times walking home after a long day of work wishing that one of those ramshackle homes I pass along the way would be a bar like I describe above. I'd go in, grab a stool, sit in the darkness out of reach of the sunlight pouring in through the windows up front, and have a beer and a shot with my thoughts, and just unwind, shedding the workday before heading the last few blocks to my front door. There's no excuse for a small town not to have a homey little bar like that. A simple joint to have a quiet drink at the end of a long day. I will have to see about making that happen here.

brittleblood

da bears!

where were you at in chicago? i'm up in wilmette - just north of evanston. lived in the city for about 8 years + lament to this day that there is no neighborhood bar to regularize.

jonahpwll

Grew up on Howard Street in Rogers Park. Moved away for a while. Came back and lived mostly on Irving Park near the lake. A little sub-neighborhood called Buena Park, located in the Lakeview neighborhood. Also lived in Ukranian Village on Cortez, about three blocks from the Empty Bottle. Short stints on Division near Dearborn and Bryn Mawr near Clark. Plenty of neighborhood bars in those spots.

jackedUPjazz

If they got moist anticipating your arrival, they should be wet once you get there ;+)

brittleblood

uh huh - know those areas - had friends that lived about three blocks north of devon and we'd love to hook up with them and spend the night out at the indian restaurants. kinda weird...devon is like saying "india".

and for years i played the national sport of chicago...16inch softball...at the two fields off chicago and the lake. ever hear of "the boss bar"? - they sponsored our team and always had a round of "coming to the innernet near you" barmaids working. not sure of the breadth of commerce that flowed thru that place...but i have my suspicions.

jonahpwll

Never made it into Boss Bar, though I'm certainly familiar with the area. Jazz Record Mart is right down the street, as is the Bill Goat on Lower Wacker Drive. And for about six months, at a job long ago, I ate two to three comped meals a week at Shaw's Crab House (I was sorta getting tipped for a salary job).
Y'know, I never played 16' in Chicago, though I did once belong to a flag football league. We'd play early Sunday morning, then get on over to the bars to watch the Bears game. I can't remember the name of the bar, though; it was a long time ago. But I think we played on the fields near Diversey. But like I said, that was ages ago.

jonahpwll

And now, the city just south of us, a college town, is having a vote to go wet next month.
I'm telling you, through sheer force of will, my very presence in Kentucky will cause the entire state to serve alcohol before I'm done with it.
Raise your glasses high, ladies and gentlemen, and give a toast and a blessing to me and those who vote yes to a drink in their backyard.

jonahpwll

And, of course, the vote to go wet was successful. I may now buy beer over the counter in the town just ten minutes from mine. I will now work on getting my own town to do the same.
You're welcome.