Blue Lamp
By Joe Gosen, Outpost contributor
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Not all cheesy lounge acts and Elvis impersonators |
Over the last three years, Blue Lamp has become a popular spot for live music. On almost any night, patrons check out music ranging from theatrical rock groups to small jazz ensembles. For instance, owner Todd Englert once hired the theatrical rock group Idiot Flesh to play in his tiny bar. He says people walked by the door, stopped and couldn't resist coming in.
"It was an amazing show visually and musically," he says. "They had wild costumes with head dresses, puppets, a fire dance and great lighting. It was a real eye opener."
Englert, who used to own a bar in San Francisco, says people eat, drink and sleep the arts in The City. What he's trying to do with Blue Lamp is bring a slice of San Francisco to Reno.
Tonight I feel like I'm in a bar in The City. It's almost midnight, I'm in a funky bar and the Scallywags, a band from San Francisco, are having fun on stage. It's a band you would never see performing in a casino, playing in a bar most weekend visitors wouldn't know about.
Blue Lamp isn't all that big. The bar takes up half the room and a couple of couches crowd the rest. The stage fits two performers comfortably, so the four Skallywags are kind of crammed in the corner. Tonight the hillbilly rock group is playing catchy tunes with funny lyrics to 20 men and four women.
The lead singer is wearing bib overalls, a straw hat and one of those Amish half-beards. What's he playing? A steel guitar? A Banjo? Whatever it is, he plays it hard and fast. Next to him, Mr. Clean's cousin on the stand-up bass. Behind him is the drummer with one drum and one cymbal. The keyboard player is tucked up in corner on a platform so high that his head brushes the ceiling.
Jim Ray of Reno walks in as the band is singing, "I get hay fever rolling around in the hay with you," on top of a fast country beat. The crowd is yip'n and hoot'n and holler'n when suddenly the music stops. The drummer yells to the bartender, "Hey, Ted! You're so ugly a train would take a dirt road just to avoid you." The crowd bursts into laughter, and the band picks up right where it left off.
Ray didn't know anything about the band but showed up because he knows Blue Lamp usually has good entertainment and interesting patrons. After a couple of songs, he moves from the barstool to an over-stuffed chair to soak in the music and the atmosphere.
Ray sips a cocktail and watches two drunks trying to dance to the fast music. They fall down and trip over chairs more than they dance. Ray is amused by it all.
"This bar is conducive to bringing in its share of characters," he says. "Everybody can be themselves, and you need to accept that. These people would get 86'd if they were stumbling around a casino."
There's definitely an interesting mix of people in the bar tonight. Old. Young. Some with ties, some in T-shirts. And that's how Ted Fiske likes it.
Fiske, who describes himself as the resident barfly, says he likes Blue Lamp because of the diverse crowd it draws. "It's the kind of bar where a government big wig and an attorney will sit next to a guy with a pierced nose. In other bars, those groups wouldn't mix."
But Ray would like a little more elbow room. "I used to go out about three times a week, but now I only go out about once a month. One of the reasons is that some of the good shows are in tiny bars. When you go to a place like this, it's a great bar, but it's not the best place to see a band because it's small and congested and you walk out of here out smelling like a dirty ashtray. So even if I read about a band I want to see, I might not go out if it's at a bar I don't like."
The fact that this is a tiny, smoke-filled bar doesn't seem to be bothering many people tonight. It's well after 2 a.m., and the band is still going strong. The patrons are too. As I walk to my car in the crisp morning air, I'm smiling and singing, "I get hey fever rolling around in the hay with you."
copyright 11/15/97 Nevada Outpost
http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost
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