Beirut, the film

Don’t we all have our wistful vision of what living in a small, vibrant artsy city might be like?

And by “we all” of course, you know I mean me, right?

Because of course I do. One reel of film in my wistful vision might run something like this:

Friend calls and says, “hey wanna go hear some music tonight?” (Tonight being Saturday) The music is gonna be a local folk band– accoustic, low key– fun, right? So you (and by you, I mean me) say, “sure.”

And then you go about your Saturday which is another rather good stretch of footage for the imaginary film as it is filled with temperatures so warm and balmy that you walk the dogs in a t-shirt while the golden light rolling down the streets evokes the kind of happy buzz you might get on your first glass of beaujolais sitting in an outdoor cafe at the end of a long work day except it’s ten o’clock in the morning.

Early evening and your friend calls to say, “hey, mind if we see a different show? Beirut is playing at Lupos.” And because you (you know who we are talking about) don’t know either venue or either band and truth be told you’re just saying yes to live music on a Saturday night– you simply say, “sounds great.”

And it was.

So great.

Met up with friends that I just met at Thanksgiving dinner— now a group of five we take in Beirut at Lupo’s which was O to the S to the YUM (i.e.: awe.some). How to describe this band’s sound? Many ways– but if limited to only one word: happy.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-mqhkuOF7s&w=640&h=360]this isn’t my favorite song but I think the video is fun

From there we wandered out into the downtown scene. Got a drink at Local 121 which was hopping and has the total London pub feel– after that we swung through the scene at AS220 but that was too young and too loud. (Yes, I just typed both those things and do not feel the least bit lame or old for saying it. I would say the same thing if I were 18). Got them to open the doors to Gracie’s and caught a nightcap in swanky town. Then went to the Salon where we danced and played righteous pinball. Home at 2am and yeah– that kind of fit the bill of what I thought city life might be like.

Bisous, E