They Made the Evening

Concepts attract crowds… Details make the crowd’s evening… It isn’t enough to advertise a theme and request the audience’s participation… There are hundreds of venues in this city where an audience can spend their money… The audience expects reciprocation… They expect a genuine effort in exchange for their money…

Upon my arrival for the Lodge Bar Derby, the weather was apocryphal… (I will simply say this, if the actual Kentucky Derby is run in weather resembling this, it will be about as enjoyable to watch as the Donnie Wahlberg-Sugar Bar crowd)… Fortunately, a robust crowd, intrigued I’m assuming, by the horse racing theme, defied the weather and layered the venue… They would not be disappointed…

From the streamers to the tables, the décor should have inspired a rendition of “My Old Kentucky Home…” As impressive as the aesthetics were, the minutia was even more superb… I registered to bet and received a racing form, which included odds, jockeys, stables, and sires… The odds were a given, how else would they calculate winning without them? But, the effort of concocting a third and fourth level of information, a level only diehard horse enthusiasts might understand, was exemplary…

What makes this even more remarkable is the fact that the races were via a videotaped presentation… I know what you’re thinking; they weren’t going to show live races… Of course they weren’t, which I why they could have stopped with horses names, post positions, and odds… The fact that emphasis was placed on details, not only on the racing form, but on the tables, where cards could be found explaining the various positions… The wagering procedure itself… The entire concept matched anything attempted by any venue…

My one critique is the money… Whereas Sugar Bar’s Casino Night currency was more inventive, Lodge Bar’s currency was borrowed from monopoly (I felt like I should have been handed a thimble or race car upon entrance)… With that said, the event’s overall detail exceeded even my exacting standards… The experience was worth challenging the ghastly weather, which finally subsided two hours after I arrived…

General Manager Pat West and Promotions Superstar Jen Bunny, as well as their staffs (which I will mention later), merit applause… I knew Lodge Bar would present an interesting evening… They always excel… However, and I cant say this enough, their attention to detail was precise… It is efforts such as these that place them amongst the elite venues in this city…

While the Lodge Bar Derby was perfectly scripted, spontaneous moments always, always provide the preeminent column material… One such moment and the highlight of the evening, commenced with Alexa, simply acting like her precocious self…

Approximately, forty minutes after the derby concluded, Lodge Bar Friday Night DJ Shawn played the Cupid Shuffle… Standing behind the bar (appearing as always gorgeous and I assume waiting for an order) was Alexa, who naturally started imitating the popular dance… Two other servers started mimicking her and three minutes later, they were commencing their own version of the dance in the entrance way…

It was at this moment that Pat West seized an opportunity… He approached Alexa and friends and pointed them toward the stage… What started as peppiness, concluded with three employees on the stage, joining the crowd in an outstanding version of the shuffle…

Following an hour and a half away (it’s called Always Live), I returned to Lodge Bar… Despite the weather (have I mentioned it was putrid), Lodge Bar had improved their crowd… The venue wasn’t crushed and there were only some choice bunnies… However, Lodge Bar wasn’t sitting virtually empty as some other venues were… Which on this night was an accomplishment…

What made the crowd even more enjoyable was the Lodge Bar staff (both on the clock and off)… On one of my first nights in the venue, Joe (whom I’ve mentioned previously), joked that there was one night which was labeled “drink with a Lodge Bar employee night”… This wasn’t that night, but that objective was entirely possible… Crown Princess Kadi, in a dazzling white coat… Jessie, in a scrumptious black and white dress… And Trevor, in what he normally wears… were all enjoying the view from the patron’s side of the bar…

Serving them their drinks (and occasionally speaking with me) were the remainder of the venue’s equally talented ensemble cast, Jen Bunny, Mike and half dozen others whose names (I apologize for this) escape me at this early hour… I know I’ve said this previously, but it’s not only the superstar drink slingers, it’s the servers and security… Every level of Lodge Bar makes every visit truly enjoyable…

And therein lies the success of this website… Without Princess Kadi and Jen Bunny, Genius Rick and the intoxicating tart, Superstars Pat and Trevor, the writing would be simply words… I dedicate this column and all previous and subsequent columns to them… They are the rock stars… They are who everyone wants… They made us…