Five, Fun, & Fantastic

St. Patrick’s Day is unique… Before you reactively agree with or roll your eyes at that statement, consider the obvious… On the Saturday proceeding New Year’s Eve, venues do not host events and label the activities “Pre-Ball Drop Day.”

Given the aforesaid, I moderated my expectations prior to Tuesday evening… Saturday was St. Practice Day… Monday was Pre-Patty Day and both evenings were very well attended… It’s Tuesday, we’re approaching the middle of the work week when our minds mush and our focus evaporates and a hangover is not the obvious injection… As I walked Park Street toward Callahan’s, I knew the Irish themed venue would host a crowd… However, my expectations for the evening were tempered…

Callahan’s quickly made me rethink my tempered expectations… As I said, I knew the venue would have a crowd (It’s name is Callahan’s and it’s St. Patrick’s Day)… With that said, the bar was crushed, the energy was intense, and the cluster of green clad bunnies was exquisite… Bunnies munching pizza and dancing… Bunnies who used their Coach purses to match their outfits… The clusters were scrumptious….

They paled in comparison (I can’t believe I am saying this) to the experience I would have minutes later, when I encountered DJ Legend… Now, I had met DJ Legend previously, and he is an outstanding individual… However, I had no clue that he would score me complete access to the venue (which I had never been in and I appreciated)…

We walked up the stairs and a moment later, I was in Callahan’s immaculate top floor club… I can just imagine what the venue resembles on a Friday night when Legend is at the top of his game… We walk through the club and outside onto a rooftop, which apparently, will be converted into a rooftop club… (How sick is that?)… As nearly thirty minutes passed, we stood atop that roof, discussing all manner of promotions… simply two power players looking out onto our city…

Following that conversation, I darted across the street to Park Street Patio, which finally resembled it’s name with a shrunken indoor crowd, a stellar outdoor crowd, and an outstanding DJ spinning in open air… The energy was slightly relaxed and the communal experience of Park Street Patio was slightly less enthralling than the crushed cluster experience of Callahan’s… Yet, the atmosphere would easily trump what I would view later in the evening…

Additionally, (and I love this about the venue), you cannot ignore the excellent intrapersonal skills of Park Street Patio’s management… From Co-Owner Brian Swanson and Promotions Superstars Randy and Tori, the attention, the collegial interaction, is a benefit you cannot encounter at every venue… Especially Tori, a personal favorite, whose five minute conversation, you wish you could turn into fifty…

From Callahan’s crush and Park Street Patio’s community, I walked Vine Street into Lodge Bar and a complete surprise… Now, you read about Lodge Mardi Gras and I will personally divulge that they owned St. Practice Day… But, their crowd on Tuesday, didn’t net them the top of the medal stand… In fact, it was in a fist fight for the lowest spot on the medal stand…

Lodge Bar was busy… The bunnies were copious… and the favorites (with the exception of the Crown Princess) were working, but the energy, the overall encompassing vibe which Lodge has previously produced was absent… It is as simple as this… Lodge Mardi Gras was equivalent to Usain Bolt’s one hundred meter final… Tuesday night resembled a qualifying heat…

I will compliment Lodge Bar on their excellent choice of music however… Featuring a diverse set list and impressive crowd interaction, the Bling Crosby’s were worth every moment spent at the venue… The two man venue is not unlike some acts that have been featured at Lodge… With that said, their individuality made them an act worth mentioning… (Their debut CD drops soon, I will let you know if I get a chance to react)…

A venue not worth attending, mentioning, and I assume, for them, not worth opening on this evening was the Frog Bear and Wild Boar, which conceded the lackluster evening prior to midnight… When I arrived at the fourth of five venues, the lights were on, the chairs were on the tables, and the evening was over… I don’t know why people didn’t come out to the Arena District on this evening…

People did more than come out to McFadden’s… They mashed the venue… As I walked South Campus toward the location, the upstairs and downstairs patios were crushed, making me elated that I selected McFadden’s as my final experience… The craziness I expected from their day’s worth of events and the updates I had been receiving throughout the evening did justice to the madness which was still rocking as I arrived…

The split level energy was unbelievable… Downstairs, the DJ and the dance floor displayed the energy you crave from campus… Upstairs, the band (whose name escapes me at the moment, thus, if they are reading this, I apologize), owned the conversation with an eclectic set list that included “Peaches” and “Under the Bridge.” While I have heard both college and rock sound in this city, I have not encountered the charismatic force which was displayed by this band… They were stellar…

Equally stellar was the complete chaos and the bunnies encircling it… From a drunken Lucky Charm Sytease to Allie, to the always delectable Emily Rose, to the scores of bunnies that were rocking the dance floor, McFadden’s concluded my evening as it had commenced, as it should always conclude and commence, with a bunny crawl…

Five venues, 2.20 miles traveled, a hundred hands shaken, two hundred friends or acquaintances encountered, five hundred or more bunnies, and a thousand random drunken details… Simply stated, the reality crushed the expectations…