Day 63—Saturday, March 13th
Arlene’s Grocery
Another day and another donation! Thanks to Brian for sending me 20 bucks. Brian requested that I go to Rattle ‘N’ Hum bar and I’ll be going there this week in his honor! Thanks and cheers, Brian!
Total amount: $20.00 USD
Purpose: beer money
Contributor: Brian
Message: Could you check out The Rattle N' Hum Bar. I am a huge beer fan and they have lots of microbrews there.Here is the address: 14 East 33rd Street between 5th and Madison. I am from Ohio and love what you are doing. I will continue to follow. You are living the life.
Thanks again Brian!
I also want to give a shout-out to DJ Gidget at Woody Radio. I listened to her super-cool show yesterday and she has plugged this site from day one. Gidget is the coolest DJ in the world and plays the coolest music ever. I just learned about Sia from her yesterday. Check out DJ Gidget, DJ Loki and the rest of the crew at Woody Radio here: Woody Radio. They will make you rock hard!
Alright on to the 365 crawl. Today we go full circle back in time. The first bar I went to back on January 11th was Otto’s Shrunken Head in the East Village. I was really nervous because I had no idea how people would take to this idea, if the bartender would play along and just had overall jitters. So after about six courage-inducing beers I made my way to Otto’s and was greeted by the bartender Lani Ford. I told Lani what I was doing and she was really nice to me. She posed for pictures and was a great sport about it. It gave me the guts to go up to strangers and ask to take their photo. The night turned out great and 62 nights later here we are.
In addition to mixing and pouring a mean-ass tiki drink, Lani is a singer, bass player and songwriter. She’s one third of the rocking trio, Stark and they’re playing a show tonight at Arlene's Grocery in honor of their new CD, “Race to the Floor.” Check out their new CD here: Stark, “Race to the Floor.”
There’s been many nights after the crawl is over that I’d win that race! Anyway, there’s no way I’d miss this show, so let’s go see Lani on the other side of the bar for a change at Arlene's Grocery.
Here we are at Arlene's Grocery. It's raining like crazy and that accounts for the polka dots in this photo. I kind of like them, how about you?
It's Saturday night and there's a full house and the joint is jumping.
Bartender Kevin is busy, but swiftly serves me up a can of Pabst.
My seat, my beer, my notes. Okay?
Hey, there's a familiar face in the crowd.
It's Frank Wood, who I met on the very first night of the bar crawl at Otto's! This is like a family reunion! Frank was here with his pal, John.
Frank introduced me to his friend, Janis.
There's no food at Arlene's, but you can bring in your own pizza, as Shauna and Ashley did. It was Ashley's 24th birthday and Shauna asked if I remembered being 24 and I had to confess I didn't remember the night before. Shauna drums for the band Red Gretchen and they had just finished their set at Arlene's. Check them out here: Red Gretchen.
And here's Ronnie who is also in Red Gretchen. Ronnie plays guitar and is the singer and songwriter for the band.
Here's Aboibhin and David who just got here from Glasgow, Scotland. Welcome to New York!
Ethan and Andee were enjoying drinks at the bar. Andee wished my liver good luck on the bar crawl.
Mark and Robin were hanging out next to me at the bar. Mark plays bass for the band Underground Saints, who were playing that night at Arlene's. I told him I'd check out their set.
And here's Lani, ready to rock out with her band Stark.
Here's the aforementioned Underground Saints. They put on a great show.
Underground Saints rocking out in a Saintly manner.
There's a full bar downstairs in the concert area.
And it's more reunion madness as I see Denton (on the right) who I met at Manitoba's weeks ago. He's here with Frank Wood and Crazy Glen. Cheers, guys.
I got a fresh Pabst from Joe the bartender right before Stark was scheduled to take the stage.
Here's the empty Stage, Stark is coming out any second now.
Balloons are released and...
Ladies and gentlemen, it's Stark!
Lani rocking out onstage.
Joe Hogan on guitar and Eric Robel on drums.
Lani belting out a tune. I love her John Entwistle styled Budweiser holder!
Joe and Lani getting into a groove.
Stark rocking the house.
There was a full house for the CD release party.
Stark onstage, video one.
Video two.
And a three...
And a four. Goodnight everybody!
Review
The only cleanup mishap in aisle one of Arlene’s Grocery will most likely be a spilled can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Arlene’s Grocery is an upstairs bar, downstairs music hall that’s been showcasing original bands since 1996. The building is a former Puerto Rican bodega and the outside remains the same. Inside it’s now a host of upcoming bands showcasing their rock ‘n’ roll stylings. One of the bands who cut their onstage teeth here were The Strokes and the stage here has seen guests from, R.E.M., Dashboard Confessional, Guster, and the Violent Femmes.
There’s a full bar upstairs away from the music. It’s a no nonsense, brick-walled joint with cheap drinks and a back room with chairs and tables to relax before heading downstairs to rock out to the bands who are featured that evening. Most nights there are around a half dozen bands playing downstairs and the cover is ususally just ten bucks for the entire evening. A hand stamp allows you to come and go.
There’s also a full bar downstairs along with tables in the back and a decent-sized area in the front for rocking out and cheering on your local favorite band. There’s rock and roll karaoke every Monday and an open mic on Saturday afternoon. Support live music and check out Arlene’s Grocery in the Lower East Side. Oh and Stark rocked the shit out of the house! It was a great show and the crowd loved them.
Arlene’s Grocery
95 Stanton St (near Ludlow St.)
212-358-1633