I found my new favorite bar last Saturday. Located at 24th & S.Van Ness in the Mission District of San Francisco, it came out of nowhere and totally hit the spot. Bless you, The Napper Tandy.
Fall is upon us. In addition to eating many brussel sprouts and roasted meats, I've been craving a quiet dark wood-panelled bar with rain dappled windowpanes and a fireplace and maybe bookshelves. Just to like have a Guiness and kick it all mellow and cozy or something.
So imagine my delight when, walking home after a mediocre Oaxacan art experience, Amy, Dan and I pop into the Napper Tandy for a quick drink. The place is small and wood panelled and is kinda like an Irish pub but with a sports bar and divey feel. The clientele was an impossible mix of blue collars, real Irish people, professional alcoholics, and a sprinkling of (here's the impossible part) unannoying hipsters. We sat down around a big huge barrel-cum-table and noted our good fortune.
Shortly thereafter, a dude busts out a laptop and some speakers in the corner of the bar and starts handing out karaoke menus. That was awesome because he seemed completely unaffiliated with the bar staff. It became even more awesome when people started singing and we kept drinking. A corn-fed fratty or just ruddy-faced Irish dude sang/yelled Frank Sinatra ("I did it - fucking - Myyyy! Waaaay!"). A large gothy woman who was double fisting bloody marys and kept saying "I'm so wasted. I am a reverend. I just married my friends!" sang Total Eclipse of the Heart. A short man appeared a full suit and sang Copacabana. And then Corn Fed was back singing the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army and we looked over and the karaoke DJ was accompaning with slide whistle like he was Kenny G. That is when we lost it, erupted in laughter, slapped our knees, and declared it the best bar ever.
And guess the DJ's response to our laughter. He pulled a cow bell from his backpack and gave it to us. I shit you not. A cow bell. We played the crap out of that cow bell. I am totally buying a recorder or a triangle or some wooden rectangle blocks and showing up next Saturday.
PS: Cool homeless people in the area. We're reading Gravity's Rainbow for our book club, and when Amy and Dad were walking home some dude exclaimed - out of nowhere! - "Gravity's Rainbow is difficult but worth it."
5 comments:
Linda – That reminds me of a cheesy karaoke DJ that we used to see when we would meet up with one of our friends. He worked at; I think its called Dottie’s in SE Portland. He would accompany most songs by playing an inflatable guitar (the real air guitar?) whenever a song that really rocked was being sung. The DJ changed venues after a few months and set up shop at a little dive bar called Grandma’s. Our friend must have had a crush because our friend followed him there. At Grandma’s the floor show got even better because not only did we get the stellar air guitar performance, we were graced with the awe inspiring presence in the form of a short white guy hopping around and ‘playing’ a real electric guitar. Problem was that the guitar wasn’t plugged in and he wasn’t actually making physical contact with the strings. He was a little retarded but after watching him for a few minutes it was impossible to laugh because it was apparent he was having the time of his life.
That's what being retarded is all about.
yeah i think i heard about this place...a little birdie called jeff mentioned it.
i can't be positive, but im pretty sure i have been there with the cobanoglays and ryan. we just stumbled upon it, and it was so refreshing - if i remember correctly, their well drinks are pretty much 1 part something else 5 parts hard alcohol.
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