Hopping like a monkey on a holy toothpick

Saw an absolutely killer show last night, a band called Gogol Bordello. One of the regulars down at the Larimer Lounge told me they were absolutely not to be missed, and he was right. Think of a really musically talented Ukrainian Folk Troupe playing punk rock with the energy level dialed up to 11 and you might get some kind of idea. The crowd was totally into it, the club was basically one big dance party, with people on the edges pounding out the rhythm on the walls, tables or bar. My hands are sore from pounding on the bar my own self. I would go see them again in a heartbeat. Here's a quote from Rolling Stone which I think is pretty apt. "A Ukrainian singer, Russian fiddler, Israeli guitar player, Floridian drummer, Russian accordionist, and Israeli sax man walk into a bar. Then, if it's Gogol Bordello, they tear the place to shreds."

If I wasn't such a friendly drunk, the show might not have gone off, though. I was sitting at the bar during the opening act, and had just gotten a fresh Tanqueray and Tonic, and went to the rest room. When I came back, there was an attractive woman sitting on my stool, which was cool, but the lead singer from GB was playing with my drink while he was chatting her up, which wasn't really. I'm standing behind them, and thinking, "Well, he just wants something to do with his hands, and I can get a new straw". Then he gets tired with just stirring it and starts sipping. Eww. Bad enough he thinks a full drink sitting on the bar has been abandoned, but drink roulette is a game I'd try to avoid if I was going on in half an hour. I guess he likes Tanq though, cause he starts drinking in earnest. At this point though, the bartender comes by and asks me where the drink she gave me was, since she knows me and knows where I was. I point at the guy and say he took it, and she's cool enough to give me a fresh one on the house. I reach between the singer and the attractive woman to get it, and I see the light bulb go on in the singer's mind as he looks down at the identical drink in his hand and then at the immensity that is me. I just touch my glass to his (now), and walk down to the other end of the bar.