nice try

I went to see a blues band at a bar in Roswell last night. The bar was so many almost-things and nothing. They did have a nice, small, stage centered at the back of the room. They had a good array of lights but only a couple were on and no one was running them. They had a partial PA. The band was unpaid, except for tip/donation money collected at the door by the son of one of the musicians. (Thanks for helping your dad out!) Even sadder, when the singer onstage mentioned his soft drink was empty, no one moved to refill his cup. I don't think I've ever seen so much apathy from a bar staff. He finally asked a friend of his in the audience to fetch him another drink. This was on a Friday night.

They called themselves a pub but only served typical nasty fried prepackaged foods you might see in dive bars. Several of the sparse people there looked at the menu - myself included - with the hopes of finding something to eat and ordered nothing. It was that bad. Also, as a graphic designer, I have to say it was one of the ugliest menus I've ever seen, probably produced at a next-door copy center. Bad photos of boring food that would have sold much better if you did not see what you might get. Poor layout and bad typesetting on a single thinly laminated sheet. It would have been okay for an IHOP or WaffleHouse but not a Pub, like the name stated, in a middle-class suburb.

Seems they also wanted to be a Sports Bar as well, from the big screen behind the stage that was never entirely off. The large No Signal message onscreen while the musicians played. The football game played between sets.

Things were going badly for the home team.