I've had a perfectly lovely day/previous evening. Last night I went to hear my brother and his lovely wife debut as the industrial caberet Valentine Wolfe. That was fun enough but it has been a long time since I've gone out to hear live bands in intimate venues, which added another layer of enjoyment. Because they weren't scheduled to perform until 10:00, predicted to be later (10:30) and as it turned out later still (after 11), I had last month arranged to take today off, so we could stay at a hotel close to the club and not worry about driving an hour or more back home, getting in late but having to be up early, etc.

Last time we went to Athens, to visit Sandy and meet Brenden, we'd taken a room at the new Hilton Garden Inn downtown. I don't know that I blogged about this part because it wasn't that big a deal, but that stay had a few minor hiccups, such as when we first went to claim our room and dump our luggage (a couple hours after check-in) it wasn't ready. Then when we returned much later, they had given our king room away (!) and had to stick us in a queen, which when we finally got up to it and I attempted to call my brother, I discovered was equipped with telephones, but not telephone cords attaching to the jacks (no kidding). Not what we'd signed on for but we sleep in a queen bed at home, we had cell phones, we had a room, so not a tragedy in the overall scheme of things. Last night when we arrived, the same guy was at the desk as before. He remembered us and as we walked into the lobby called out, "Hey, the Bowmans, right?" [heh - I'm part of "the Bowmans"!] He clicked about on first one computer, then another, saying, "I just need to check...let me look at something..." I was just beginning to worry, thinking, "Oh no, I hope they haven't lost our reservation or given our room away," when he said that he remembered the issues from last time, appreciated us giving them another chance and that because we were so nice about it, he was upgrading us. Which was very nice, he didn't have to do it, it's not like we demanded restitution - after all, the issues were minorly irksome but not worth making a stink about - and then when we got to our room, we discovered that he'd given us a suite, a larger bathroom and separate shower, huge room with the usual accoutrements plus a desk, a recliner, a love seat and coffee table, and this lovely 3/4 round bow window overlooking the square. It was lovely! All the more so for being totally unexpected.

After we'd unpacked and changed, it was time to walk the whole 2 blocks to Tasty World for Bo's show. Sarah and Bo were already there, along with our friends Phil and Lachele. It was great to see them - I hadn't been out and about with Phil since King Crimson at the Variety Playhouse, although I'd seen Lachele more recently. I spoke to Sarah's sister Becky, but didn't get to converse with her, and met a few of their other pals. Finally, finally, FINALLY, the DJ quit his DJing and it was time for the debut of Valentine Wolfe!!!

Their show was fabulous - they totally rocked the house. Originals as diverse as "Camera Obscura" and my own personal favorite, "Club Rancour" were heralded by the crowd and everyone grooved to the V-Wolfe's unique, imaginative take on covers like "Barbie Girl" and "Little Red Riding Hood". It was all the more spectacular for being their first live performance, because so much of their performance was computer-sequenced, computer-driven effects, etc., there was room for a lot of things to go awry. A few things did - Bo was soldering his electric acoustic upright when I phoned at around 9:00 PM - but nothing did during the performance. They say that there were issues during the performance, such as when a photo-flash went off in Bo's face, distracting him and resulting in a few missed notes, but I wouldn't have known that if he hadn't told me; he covered it well. I think that was true of the performance as a whole: if anything went wrong or wasn't as they expected, they covered it so well the audience was none the wiser, and still quite appreciative.

Next up was the band Ikonoklast. I felt bad for these guys for two reasons: one, it was obvious that a lot of people were there to see Bo & Sarah, because the club cleared out significantly after their set. Secondly, there were major issues with their sound/levels. I know from Bo that the sound guy wasn't the 'usual' Tasty World sound guy but I guess he wasn't able to adjust/adapt, because the band was pretty dissatisfied. I don't blame them and I felt even worse for them because the sound guy's response to everything seemed to be to make it louder, so a good many people (like me) that were sticking around were driven outside the club regardless. After their set, the vocalist was going round giving people free CDs of their stuff and it's a world of difference. Honestly, either way their music isn't to my taste (which is no slight on them, opinions vary - that's why Baskin-Robbins sells 31 flavors) but the live performance and the CD are so vastly different in quality. A shame for them that it turned out that way, y'know?

Then Unavox was up - it was their record release party for Angels Dance Upward, and because we were among the first 25 people there, we received free copies. They played a tight set - their vocalist is very energetic and charismatic. The keyboard player is pretty phenomenal, too. More on them later, once I've had a listen or three to the CD.

Finally, a bit after 2AM, it was time to stroll back to our luxurious hotel room. After a lovely, lovely sleep we woke up, checked out and met Bo & Sarah for lunch at Five Star Day, their friend Bill's restaurant. I had rigatoni in sundried tomato butter with chicken, black olives and feta cheese - deLISH! - and Alan had batter-fried pork steak with mashed potatoes. Mmmm. Bill didn't join us because he stayed too late at Topper's tittie bar the night before. (alas, poor Bill, ratted out on the blog of a beeyatch he doesn't even know).

Afterward, we headed home. I ran a few errands in hopes of getting my car's CD player repaired (fruitless, alas), went to World Market for gourmet sodas (Alan), crackers and wine (me), had a nice dinner at Olive Garden and a wonderful excursion to Border's afterward. I love the bookstore. Have I ever chanced to mention that? Eh, I thought not.

I wish every day could be like today: sleep late, have nice meals with interesting people, wine and bookstores. If every day was like today, every day would be so freakin' cool. But (sigh) it's like Butt-Head says, I suppose: "Uhhh, well, if nothing sucked, and everything was cool all the time, then, like, how would you know it was cool?"