He shows up an hour early, so we set down a couple of brews to break through the waning moments of Friday's hangover, then climb into the van. Needed a couple of roadies for the 20 minute drive, so a sixer of Sierra Nevada was able to tide us over. Food? Ok, how about Chicago Pizza for a deep dish pie? I'm standing in line when the barmaid looks over and gives me a wink. Perceiving this as encouragement, I amble over to the bar with an "Evening, Darlin'. Whatcher got on tap?" She proceeds to pour Full Sail Amber whilst we wait for a table.

At the table, the waitress is making the rounds, and stops each time she does another lap, bringing more liquid refreshments when the mugobeer gets below the half-way point. We leave at 8:30 to get our seats in the theater.

At 8:33 we notice a bar right next door to the theater, which demands our entrance. The barkeep failed to correctly translate the order for "Two Sahara Sapphires, Earthquake with a twist" as "May we please have a couple of Bombay Sapphire Martinis, Dry, Shaken with a twist?" so I courteously provide the translation. He correctly determines that Vermouth has no place in such an elixir, and offers them up. We take them down. At 8:38 we depart for the theater.

Inside, we notice that the tables down on the floor are filled. Seats on the floor will obviously be obscured by dancers, so we head up to the balcony. Hey, look, front row is open, with room to pull up a table and have an unobstructed view. We do so. Jim considers whether I would care for a Tequila, since he's buying. I reply in the affirmative, but only with a beer chaser. Sierra Nevada on tap in the theater. Jim returns moments later with shots, lime wedges, salt shaker, and a couple of pints of Pale Ale. Those disappear, waiting for Rob's band to start at 9. I determine that the pints are of insufficient size to deal with the impending show, and head down the stairs for a couple of 22oz refills.

The music starts, and we proceed to listen, noticing that the band is flat, because they're leaving Wednesday for a 9 day tour in England and are obviously preoccupied. Since the beer is not flat, we continue to inspire ourselves, and leave the band to their own devices. Eventually, the auditory torture ceased, and the Paladins came on.

We are now guarding our seats and beers from jealous patrons who are rueing their tardy arrival to the balcony. About half way through the set, we show mercy by heading down to the floor to find a better vantage point from which to drink. The bass player is a wildman, obviously under the influence, though not quite as much as during a previous show, when he forgot to hold onto the bass, which crashed to the floor, breaking the tailpiece, requiring the show to stop while they duct taped the thing back together. They played for a couple of hours. We visited the house bar for refills.

On our way out of the theater, we noticed that there was a door directly from the theater into the bar we'd been in earlier, which required exploring. The barkeep this time correctly interpreted "Couple of Buds and a Bird" to mean "Two Budweisers and shots of Wild Turkey." It was a birthday party for some guy, and his pals were proceeding to get him intoxicated, so we assisted by example. Finally Jim mentions that we should go make sure the van hasn't been towed, and since he was driving, we headed out.

I partially recall a couple of warm Pale Ales being left for the ride home, although I also recall not recalling a portion of the trip back. At the house, I had to dig out a Dread Zeppelin CD for Jim to study, since DZ is gonna be at the Mystic on April Fools Day, which calls for a return to Petaluma fer another Boys Night Out.

Saturday morning, still drunk, but a couple of brandy coffees staved off the hangover, permitting more or less normal functioning. Ah, life is good.

-Sully