Took me a few days, but I finally posted some shots from the party. I arrived around 10:30, just before Nic Armstrong and the Thieves began their set, things were running late because of a faulty mixing board. In keeping with Murphy’s Law, the keg cooler had also died that afternoon, meaning that they had to pack the thing with ice for the whole night or lose all of the kegs. There wasn’t anywhere to get a new compressor at 4pm on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I’m guessing they’ve gotten it repaired by now as the ice was causing a swamp behind the bar.
I missed Nic Armstrong at ACL, but they were quite good, definitely working the British angle. I didn’t get close enough to get any good shots because it was already so crowded on the patio by the time I walked back there. The whole place was packed for most of the night. I saw quite a few people there: Wiley, Johnny V. from Pink Swords, several members of Ugly Beats, to name a few. I hung out at the bar until Sons of Hercules started and then headed back to get some shots for the web site. I think I got some pretty good ones. They had a good sound considering they were out on the patio and crammed into a corner. I think Dale was a little distracted by the go-go dancers.
I’ve known Casino for roughly 15 years. We were record store clerks together at the old Sound Warehouse at Burnet and 49th. I met up with him and several others in Buffalo in 1993 for a Jacklords reunion, which is when he started talking to Mark, who already owned several bars there, about partnering to open a place on Sixth Street. Who would’ve thought that one year later, it’d be open and twelve years later it’d be going strong?
Congratulations to Casino and his crew, some of whom have been with the bar since the beginning (well, Gargoyle, anyway).