Kiss Me. I'm Norwegian and Scottish
On the one hand, St. Patrick's Day in Saint Paul is a lot of fun. A very Irish city, half of Saint Paul takes the day off and wanders the streets, hammered out of its mind, all day today. Bagpipes keen through the streets, green beer flows like the River Liffey, and the sour tang of vomit wafts on the breeze after about suppertime.
On the other hand, there's been kind of an overdose of all things Celtic lately. The music is everywhere, those damned celtic thorn tattos have become white trash chic...
...and Irish Pubs have become for the 2000s what Sports Bars were for the 1980's. Twenty years ago, everyone with a fridge, two TVs and a beer licence was starting a sports bar. Today; remove the TVs, take a gallon of dark brown stain to all the woodwork, add some high-back uncushioned booths (recycled church pews work well), serve Guinness and tack an "o" in front of the name, and fein begorrah, you're an Irish Pub!
Now, I love places like Keegans, partly because they got the "look" right - but mainly because they got the "Feel" down. Keegans is its own social circle, a scene unto itself, a place where everone does know your name; it's a genuinely fun place to be, at least as much because of the people as the decor. With that kind of atmosphere, you could make an Applebee's feel like an "Irish Pub".
But is it too much to hope for, that perhaps the "Irish" fad has peaked? That we can get some diversity in our monuments to Bacchus? Maybe we could look forward to some intrepid entrepreneur starting, say, a Australian bar, or a Scottish pub, maybe one of those Japanese joints where fake salarymen get super-hammered and sing karaoke?
Posted by Mitch at
March 17, 2005 07:35 AM
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Wait...there can be such a thing as an overdose of Irish music? Unless you count Enya or U2, radio doesn't seem to know what Irish music is. Even that "More diversified than thou" 89.3 station dropped their Thistle&Shamrock program in favor of more of the same.
Irish Pubs, now they are an overkill.
Posted by: Jerry Leigh at March 17, 2005 08:00 AMJeez, are you listening to Coleman? He sounds like he's talking from inside a bag of socks.
Posted by: Josh at March 17, 2005 08:49 AMI think I will open a 1980s-era Bangkok bar, based upon my extended stay at the Malaysia Hotel in that fair city in 1982. The bar, sitting between the pool and the "lobby", was actually deep-frozen from 1969, with no wax in the jukebox that wasn't meant to appeal to G.I.s on R and R during the latter stages of the Vietnam War. Giant liter bottles of Singh Ha beer cost the equivalent of seventy five cents, and the Thai food wasn't too bad either, if a little homegenized to appeal to American tastes. The clientele was, well, it was what really made the place. To invoke a cliche', the barroom scene out of "Star Wars" had nuthin' on this joint. Too bad I may be one of the few regulars from that year who is still above room temperature, although I doubt anybody has met their end via light saber.
On another topic, green beer is for folks who don't like to drink.
Posted by: Will Allen at March 17, 2005 10:12 AMTwo blocks from Keegans is Kikugawa, which has a japanese business man style karoke bar, though I've never seen anyone sing or anyone in there but goth kids.
Also, there is Billibong's in Bloomington(?) if you want an Australian theme bar. Although that seems to just mean really big beer cans.
Posted by: rew at March 17, 2005 11:00 AMHow about a Swedish/Norwegian bar (strictly segregated so the two sides don't have to mingle of course)? No music. All conversation is quiet and polite. Hot and cold running lutefisk year-roud. And the only drinks available are water and Aquavit.
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