Sandwich, Snacks and Drinks c/o Prohibition; Comedy and Music c/o Underground Arts

LMP Brigade strikes again. In other words, I had a last minute plan idea and I asked BC if she might want to join in. She said yes and so on the night in question a plan was born. Basically, I was interested in seeing Starlee Kine and the West Philly Orchestra at Underground Arts. We decided before getting there that we'd have some drinks and perhaps food at Prohibition Taproom. I walked there and it took a lot less time than I had thought, which made me a good 20 minutes early. BC then ended up being a little late, so I sat at the bar alone for a bit of time. When I sat down there were people on either side of me, but eventually one person departed, which made me glad because I could then save the seat for BC. It was a crowded house for a Thursday night, so I wasn't really aggressive about the seat...didn't put a jacket on it or a bag or anything. But when a big guy came up and asked about it I said, well no one's there now but I have a friend coming in 10 minutes so....He got quite grumpy about that, went to another section of the bar and grabbed a seat. Meanwhile the bar manager came up to me and gently chastised/scolded me, saying they have a first come first serve policy on seats. All fine and good really. I wasn't trying to be difficult. At the same time the guy's extreme grouchiness/telling on me and the bar managers faux conciliatory/judgy tone were kind of off-putting, even if I get it: it's busy, you'd rather have an ass in a chair now then have me leave because my friend won't have an chair for her ass later. But I didn't leave. A nice lady sat in the seat next to me, had a drink and left just as BC arrived. So all worked out. I just found it a little something. We decided to split the grilled cheese sandwich of the day, which included brie, pears and I forget what else. Good, but not quite hot hot hot enough.

I'm a sucker for fried green beans and I think they do an excellent job at Prohibition. The dipping sauce is also quite addictive.

They had an 'old man drink' special, which was the 'Fine and Dandy.' It was a mix of gin and other things. Potent. Old mannish for sure.

After our drinks and meal, we departed Prohibition for Underground Arts. There, we the 215 Festival put together a show that allowed us to see the comedy stylings of Juliet Hope Wayne whom I had seen perform once before. She is funny, but it kind of makes me sad that her entire schtick is 'I was poor, doing heroin and drinking too much and these are the decisions I made as a result.' It's legitimately funny, and she seems to have gotten her act together now, but after only hearing her two times, I kind of wish she'd find fresh material.

Then there was the West Philly Orchestra. They came out and played and it was fun and good.

Many of the musicians were wearing costumes. One girl was dressed up in a kimono while playing her tuba. I think it was a tuba.

And then came Starlee Kine. She decided to do a bit with two audience members, except she chose pretty much the two worst people in Philadelphia to do anything with on stage. The basic set up was: she had recently attended a wedding of two people she in one way or another had helped bring together...and she wanted far more credit than she got. So she brought up these two people and the bit was supposed to just be this list of how many points she'd get if they ended up doing a variety of things together. The problem is that these two were just surly and weird. In the initial introduction they quickly established themselves as being unable to 'go along with a bit' and kept on saying pretty much the opposite of what Kine expected or could have wanted. While this could have ratcheted up the comedy, it really didn't. It was just aggravating. Both the dude and the woman had this strange Philly swagger/I don't give a shit attitude and Kine struggled to keep them and the audience engaged. I truly believe it would have gone over so much better if she had randomly called out two more recent Philly transplants or just other people altogether....unless the whole thing was supposed to be a little Andy Kaufman/Tom Green socially awkward. If so, totally nailed it.

While there were more performers after Kine, it was getting late and BC and I both had work the next day. So, alas, we left before it ended. A good and lovely LMP.