I was at one of my favorite local bars last night, The Institute. It's a fairly new spot on 12 & Green, which was before a nameless watering hole we liked to call "The Ghetto Bar" or "The 40 Spot". Owners Charlie and Heather gutted the place and redid the bar but didn't go out of their way to create a theme, maybe just "good old neighborhood bar".
The customers are very diverse from young skateboarder dudes, to students, professionals, creepy old men in leather dusters, and bike messengers. What I really enjoy about The Institute though is how they've opened themselves up to the local artist community by hosting live bands, allowing budding Djs to experiment, they even have a caberet by a woman who lives just a few doors down. And it's always free (or, so far).
Last night the band was Old Goats, who were incredible. I could hardly focus on my intense game of Clue-oh, they have a bunch of classic board games you can play at the bar.
The band is simply a singer with a ukulele or acoustic guitar, an upright bass, and three percussionists who play tambourine and a bunch of interesting drums I don't even know the names of. They were so energetic, clapping their hands and stomping their feet to the folky head nodding music of Brazil I could hardly believe they were making all that beautiful noise right in front of me. It kind of sounds like if Beruit and the Ruby Suns got together played the jangly gypsy indigenous melodies, and Tom Waits was singing in Portuguese.
Cheers!
Old Goats-Marinherio
Old Goats
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