Inside The Perimeter

Let me get this off my chest first, if you are going to open a business in the 2000s you should have a fucking website!!! I don’t know if webdesigners are that slow or if it’s cool not to have a site these days, but lately I have been thwarted often when trying to get a weblink for new businesses in Atlanta. In this piece you will see nfws which means that I have searched for a website, but have found no fucking web site.

P’cheen Keen
On Saturday evening my friends Stacey (preggers), Andy (her husband the culprit) and I went to see Wanda Sykes at the Tabernacle (nfws). After the show we were feeling a bit peckish and decided to grab a bite to eat and a beverage.

P’cheen is a relatively new bar / restaurant in the Old Fourth Ward (Highland Av) which was once known for housing Roman Lily Cafe and the original location of Jake’s Ice Cream. In recent days this section is mostly recognized as the home of Zuma Sushi (nfws).

P’cheen (Gaelic for “moonshine”) is a small space which uses every inch effectively. There are ample tables for diners, a sit-down bar, and a small window space which (much to my surprise) was big enough for two turntables and a microphone DJ.

I originally planned to order the fish and chips (which Stacey ordered), but was lured away when I decided that I wanted an appetizer of pomme frites with three dipping sauces and a panini consisting of Merguez lamb sausage, bleu cheese, caramelized onions and jalapeno marinara with a side of onion rings as my entree. I highly recommend ordering either, or even both! The fries were delicious, slender and wilted when picked up; some might say that they needed to be fried again, I disagree. The dipping sauces provided were a mustard based sauce, a sweet and spicy sauce, and a slightly chutney-flavored sauce (this is the best that I can do to describe these sauces since it was late, dark inside, and my palette is not that sofisticated). The panini was fantastic, even with the strong flavors of the bleu cheese, onions, and marinara I could taste the delicious sausage.

As I mentioned, Stacey ordered the fish and chips with sides of British chips and mushy peas. I managed to get a taste of the peas which I found to be as tasty as peas can be. Stacey said that the fish was good, but that the chips were a bit too large to be cooked properly.

If I remember correctly, Andy ordered the shepard’s pie. It appeared tasty, but I am rarely a fan of shepard’s pie so I don’t see myself ordering it any time soon.

My only disappointment of the evening was that my first choice of beer, Asheville North Carolina’s Highland Brewery’s Gaelic Ale was out of stock. This is not an unusual occurrance for me however. Instead, I drank a bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Overall I had a wonderful time at P’cheen and can see myself inventing an excuse to go back soon.

We all have people who we have met during our lives who have changed us. For some it’s a teacher, minister, love interest, etc. For me, it was my former-best-friend Mike.

I don’t really recall exactly when or how I met Mike, but my best guess is that we became friends when I was eighteen doing my first stint at Toys ‘R’ Us.

Mike was about my age then, a tad shorter than I was, had sharp sense of humor, a skateboarder, and budding guitarist. Mike had blonde hair which he could make stand on end, and when he would scrunch his face and make it turn red he’d look like the Heat Miser song from A Year Without A Santa Claus.

Mike was the one person to alter my taste in music.

As a youngster I was into the music that my New York friends and our brothers liked. We were into The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kiss, David Bowie, etc.

paulie fact:

• first purchased cassette tape: Alice Cooper - “School’s Out”
• first purchased album: Emerson, Lake and Palmer - “Brain Salad Surgery”
• first purchased cd: Pink Floyd - “Dark Side Of The Moon”

As the early eighties rolled around my parents finally introduced cable television into our household, and the world of MTV was brought to my world. While I was still interested in the music that I had grown up listening to, I found that there was a whole new world known as ‘alternative’.

It was this music that solidified the bond between Mike and myself. Mike opened my eyes to Husker Du, Aztec Camera, Devo, Los Lobos, The Minutemen, REM, to name a few.

Mike and I would both read Spin Magazine and The Village Voice wishing that the bands that we liked would come to Clearwater, Tampa, St. Petersburg, anywhere near by so that we could see them. Mike was the reason I went to see Jason and the Scorchers perform at the University of South Florida back in ‘86.

The only Spring Break I ever spent in Daytona Beach was the trip I took with Mike, circa 1986. During that Spring Break we drank Shaefer Light ($5 a case!), saw Jay Leno perform for free and went to see the Golden Paliminos and 10,000 Maniacs perform for free at the stage on the beach.

When I moved up to Gainesville to go to the University of Florida I lost touch with Mike. While at Florida I ran into Mike a few times, once when he was working at a used CD store across the street from campus, and once when he was working at the Media Play. We never hung out together again as time had changed us both.

It’s been nearly twenty years now that I’ve seen Mike. I have no need to ever run into Mike again in my life, but if I do I think that I will thank him for helping me get on the music trail that I have been following for so many years.

Welcome to the first if a new series of articles that I will randomly throw onto Inside The Perimeter. These “Struck On The Connector” articles will be longer, more in-depth articles that will cover one topic — usually a review of a CD, concert, restaurant, etc.

btw- Today’s “normal” entry is below this and is called “Point And Shit!”. Just in case you were wondering….

I Want Revenge, No I Want More Sleep
I made my first good decision last night to decide to walk to The EARL. Yes, I know I live close enough to always walk to The EARL, but when the weather is questionable I occasionally drive (oh, how Alpharetta of me). Knowing that a 9pm “doors open” at The EARL means a 9:45pm-10:00pm first band start, I left the house around 9:15pm.

The first thing I noticed upon entering The EARL’s music room was the presence of 99x banners. “Ugh”, was my first thought. “Am I going to have to suffer through an introduction from Barnes Toucher, Leslie, or Jimmy?” was my second. [paulie note: I was a dedicated 99x listener from 1995-2004, and moved away when I just couldn't stand their limited playlist and inane banter.] Luckily I was spared. Along with the banners I noticed the arrival of the hormone-driven, tattooed, smoking, sluttly-dressed, young girls with their equally body-modded emo boyfriends. When I am sixty and they are forty and complaining about their tattoos and lung disease I am going to smile and tell them all to go fuck themselves. But I digress…

During my trip to the bar to purchase my third Miller High Life I noticed that there were far more “older” people entering the room than I would have imagined. [paulie note: I am forty, so these people were probably younger than me but didn't look it, or were the parents of the aforementioned 99x kiddies.]

At that time I started playing one of my favorite games at The EARL called “I wonder if that guy is in one of tonight’s bands.”

Finally, the first band Rock Kills Kid, took the stage. They are a five-member band from Los Angeles who provided a seven-song set of decent, guitar and synthesizer driven rock. I wouldn’t call their set “groundbreaking”, but I enjoyed their sound and considering that they were the opening band I was rather impressed.

She Wants Revenge was next to take the stage. Given their current groundswell of popularity I was a little surprised that there wasn’t a billing swap much like the one that occurred when the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Ambulance Ltd tour swung through The EARL last summer. I wanted to take a snapshot of SWR’s playlist so that I could document it here, but couldn’t get that close to the stage. Because SWR has only one CD out, it suffices to say that all songs they played were from it. SWR’s sound was awesome, but never swerved far from that found on their CD. While I enjoy when bands prove that they can recreate the sound caught on their CDs, I also appreciate when they personalize the show for the crowd and take known songs in different directions. The four-man band seemed comfortable and tight on stage. They also looked like they were a bit warm from the heat generated from the small venue, large crowd and copious amounts of cigarettes being smoked. After playing a set appropriately long for a second act, She Wants Revenge the left the stage and at least half of the crowd left the building.

I considered an early jettison from The EARL myself (it was a school night), but while unloading my Miller High Lifes I heard this guy telling other guys just how much better Electric 6 would be, so I decided to stay.

At the start of E6’s show I noticed how much fun their lead man, Dick Valentine, was having. This is always pleasing to me. At one point he even asked the crowd “Who came to see She Wants Revenge and are now seeing Electric 6?” From the involved reaction of the crowd during the songs played prior to this question being asked, I would have to say “not many of those left in the room.” Because I was completely clueless about E6 prior to this show, and was obviously in the minority amongst this crowd, I had flashbacks to when I saw Lucero last year at The EARL. [paulie note: at least I had heard two of Lucero's songs prior to seeing them in concert.] As much as I wanted to enjoy E6’s fist pumping, party-style, rock and roll, I could only last for four songs before I considered it to be “late” (12:05am) and determined that it was time for me to walk home.

And there you have it…
Paulie [eat/ga]