You Never Know ...

Yesterday was a grueling long day at the office since I was left in charge of making sure that both of our offices (DC and Annapolis) ran smoothly. After work, I immediately went to downtown Annapolis and started bar-hopping alone.

The great thing about going out alone is how quick and easy it is to do so. Since I know so many bartenders and people, I usually always bump into someone I know and, voila, I'm no longer drinking by myself! I headed over to Acme Bar and Grill on Main Street and quickly started to consume copious amount of beer. I needed to shake my rough day off and get a nice buzz going so I could start to contemplate the greater issues in life like what kind of appetizer I wanted to eat.

To my right were two girls engaged in girlie gossip. One turned to me and asked, "why are you sticking your fingers through holes in your coaster?"

"Because they were already there and I love sticking my fingers into holes," came my coy reply while smiling back at her.

I have no idea why they made coasters with two holes in them, but it was some type of novelty St. Patty's Day coasters.

To my left was this guy who seemed really cool. We started talking about the music that was playing on the XM radio in the bar and we immediately dived right into the most amazing, philosophical banter I've ever had in a bar. Granted, I've had a lot of political and philosophical debates with people in a bar, but this guy was off-the-charts intelligent. He was in his late 30's and an absolute expert in music. I rarely find someone who knows more than me when it comes to music but this guy put my music knowledge to absolute shame.

We talked about the upcoming elections, the war in Iraq and past presidents. Halfway into our conversation about Iraq, I learned that his brother, a high ranking diplomat for the State Department, was killed while in Iraq. It always makes this entire bullshit war that much more personal when you hear stories from people who have lost their own brothers or sons in this tragic war.

After talking for some time, I eventually learned who this man was -- a very prominent and well-known D.J. in D.C. I felt slightly better about getting my ass handed to me when it came to music trivia. We'll call this D.J. "Jim."

Another guy came in and started talking to him. I didn't recognize him but this guy was also super-intelligent when it came to music. I felt like I was now sitting in a bar that was an exclusive hang-out for people who were music connoisseurs.

After Jim talked to this new guy for a few minutes, he turned to me and said, "Kramer, I'd like to introduce you to Jimmy -- the lead singer from the band Jimmy's Chicken Shack."

Woah! This was *the* Jimmy I had always admired back in the day. Jimmy's Chicken Shack never became quite the national sensation that a band like Better than Ezra became, but they were extremely well known on the East Coast and had managed to land a contract with Island Records before that label went bankrupt. I tried to challenge Jimmy with some music trivia concerning 80's "one hit wonder" hands but he handed me my ass after shuffling it like a Rubik's cube. The lesson to be learned here is that no matter how good you think you are when it comes to music, you don't challenge the likes of Jimmy unless you're prepared to lose in style. That's like challenging Chuck Norris to a few rounds of soft-contact karate. Chuck Norris doesn't do soft-contact.

It was a great night because I was invited out to an event Wednesday night with the D.J. and he asked me to bring some of my music. I found out through the course of our discussion that he had never heard of more esoteric bands like Gotan Project or Cinematic Orchestra, so this just may very well be an opportunity for me to learn more about DJ'ing in general and to actually get my feet wet!

Sometimes you never know who that person is sitting next to you unless you strike up a conversation!

Oh! If you haven't already discovered this musical gem for yourself, here is an excellent music site to explore -- Ishkur's Electronic Music Guide