September 04, 2006
As the Venice Turns 18
So I wind up at the Venice Cafe on Saturday night, the second (and much more entertaining) leg of a trip that also included an impromptu stop at Hammerstone's, which was enlivened only by the appearance of a loud, obnoxious bachelor party. Otherwise, it was the picture of a Soulard bar after a Cards game, with passable but lackluster blues, Bud Lights downed everywhere and sprawling parties locking up every nook-and-cranny.
A few blocks away, the mood was more simpatico. At the Venice, the three-piece band, Cowford Eddy, played a set heavy on the rockabilly and the crowd, neither large nor small, seemed to be enjoying their set.
Upstairs, though, the action was in place, as owner Jeff Lockheed dropped a mouse into Pablo's cage behind the bar. The rat snake, twice-escaped during the week prior, went right to work, hunting and eating the prey in a matter of minutes, to the varying states of shock, amusement and conversation of all assembled. And what a crew!
On the 18th birthday of the Venice, Lockheed was enjoying his customary Bud Selects while buying some shots for a group including venerable local entertainer Ralph Butler, Soulard/Benton Park gadfly Dick Pointer and the Mad Russian, who volunteered that his first broadcast on KDHX was the same night as the Venice's: September 2, 1988.
There are too many nights in life when you wind up at the wrong spot, at the wrong time. Makes the opposite happening that much sweeter.