RTE Bonus: Last Call At Anacone's

[So, this is what the apocalypse is like, huh? The world is a hellscape and there is so much work to be done. This isn't the point of this post, but I urge you - take advantage of the apocalypse to DO something. Write emails to elected officials, send thank you cards to healthcare workers, confront the bias you see in your own social circle, donate money (if you can), be helpful to someone in your community, march, volunteer.... and for fuck's sake make sure that you're registered to vote. Also, wear a mask! Okay. I'm going to step off my soapbox now.]

Anyway, on Friday, a little band called moe. released an album (their first in six years!). I settled in for what now counts as a big Friday night and got to work scrubbing my grout while giving "This is Not, We Are" a thorough listen.  And the best thing ever happened!

Okay, so when I was in college, there was this bar that Ben, Ryan, Matt (my college brosephs who also were from my high school) and I always used to go to.  It was a shit hole and in a terrible part of town, the only place on the block wihtout bars on the windows. We went there because Ryan could get in underage, JJ the bartender was obsessed with me so I never spent more than $25 regardless of how much I drank, and I  was really into baseball those years so I used to go and watch afternoon games with the old men and yell at the TV.  I learned to play impaired darts there. I threw up more times than is polite for a lady to admit in their parking lot. It is a place that I have pretty great memories of. (Conincidentally, it reminded me of the bars I used to go to with my grandmother when I was really little - right down to the crusty jukebox. I like to bellieve that those outings with Grandma have instilled my long and abiding love for dive bars.) 

Much to all the rest of my friends' chagrin (they all thought I was nuts for spending so much time there because of everything mentioned above), I had my 22nd birthday party there.  It is one of my favorite birthday parties because there was balloons, pizza from Sal's,I think cupcakes, a billion people came and they let us smoke cheap gas station cigars in the long defunct kitchen.  Then when everyone went to leave, it was discovered that many people who attended had their tires slashed. The old Jeep-o was there and it was the only car in the lot that was untouched (probably because it was always parked there). 

The name of the bar was Anacone's (it has tragically long since closed). 

Anyway, moe. released a new album. And they have a song about their Buffalo nostalgia, Skitchin Buffalo.  It is a really funky song with a very chunky baseline and there are a lot of fun BUF references. And then, at  3:50, Rob Derhank, BEST DUDE EVER, sings, "LAST CALL AT ANACONE'S". AND I HEARD IT AND I LOST MY FRICKING MIND.

For some reason, it seems like SUCH A BIG DEAL to me that these guys who I have been listening to and seeing live for 20 years shut down the same bar I did, albeit years before I knew about it or them.  

Since living in SF, moe. has always been a link to "home" for me - and they're such an important part of that time in my life when I was figuring myself out. Right now, life is tough. On a macro level, I'm so worried the horror show that is America and what I, personally, can do to make it better.  On a micro level, it's really lonely to just be in my apartment by myself, all the time with no end in sight - especially when this week was supposed to be the start of a big east coast trip.  It's just a lot. And my individual struggles are absolutely nothing compared to what so many people are going through - now with COVID, and always with the systemic injustice that still exists.  

All that to say - I love that in the midst of the apocalypse, these five guys who make such great music, can still make me feel connected  - to them, to Buffalo, to my youth, to the process of growing up... and to the shittiest dive bar ever, one that I have such very fond memories of. 

As an added bonus here's the birtday collage from that party (man I loved getting the disposable camera developed the next day!):