How The Nightlife Blogger Made It Through All Day Night Bars & Parties
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Blogger
My throat is scratchy and my voice is crackling, but I’m up, feeling good and ready to rock it again.
It’s a mid-Sunday morning in the South Bay, and I survived a long, busy and lively Saturday, which I’ve dubbed the Hermosa Beach Challenge.
When you live here – Hermosa Beach is a small town along the coast in Los Angeles – there’s something you’ve got to know: You are going to go out to the bars and will have lots of parties to attended.
Big Ten Pub Crawl, College Football, House Parties & Live Music
On this particular Saturday the lineup of events was particularly daunting: the annual Big Ten Pub Crawl with 500 transplanted Midwesterners filling up the bars on and around Pier Ave., the SEC Championship game featuring my alma mater Alabama, a house pre-party leading to a much bigger house pre-party, the CD release party of a talented local blues/rock singer at a local bar and a huge holiday party at a funky office.
With the exception of the latter because it was impossible to be in two places at the same time – sometimes in Herrmosa Beach, you want to clone yourself because often there’s so much happening at the same time – I managed to do them all on a lively early December Saturday.
How? Simple. I paced myself.
Rather than hit every bar on the pub crawl, I peeked in at the start. Rather than guzzle Jack Daniels or Alabama Slammers as any Crimson Tide fan is wont to do during big games, I sipped beers.
Rather than do shots and drink hard liquor at the two parties, I had beer and wine.
Therefore, I showed up fairly coherent to the CD release party. And I’m glad I did, because the singer – Shari “El” Puorto – was sensational. This girl can flat-out sing and she belted out tunes behind a phenomenal blues band. I was right by the stage (my friend does the lighting at the bar, Standing Room) and could literally feel the soul pouring out of the performers.
The music and talent was so good, it was like being at Tipitina’s in New Orleans. Or the Maple Leaf or the House of Blues, three of the top live music venues in a city known for its great live and blues music.
My day started at noon and didn’t end until after 1 a.m. But by pacing myself, and keeping on the move from bar to party to bar, I was able to not just survive the day, but also thrive well into the night.
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