bitterbutter

Prince Albert in a can

This past Sunday I found out that I had a brush with royalty a few years ago and did not even know it.

We had the big black out here in the rust belt on August 14th, 2003. It was sooo hot and humid. It felt crazy.

Monica called me from the East side and wanted me to come over so we could go forage for something to eat in a city sans power. I was living in Old Brooklyn at the time.

It was kind of stupid of me to drive over there...but still kind of exciting too. At the time we had no idea how much of the area the power failure had reached.

We drove around thinking we'd find something. It took a while but finally we did. The only place in the area that had power was Nighttown Restaurant. They had some sort of giant generator going.

We didn't have tons of money but decided to give it a try anyway. I'm glad we did. It was so amazing. The place was packed and everyone was talking to each other. We waited in line with a bunch of people. The lighting was dim and foggy. It was kinda coolish in there, like a cave. I felt a little drunk just being there.

After about 30 minutes they led us to this wonderful old style vinyl corner booth with a crisp white tablecloth. Just sitting there felt so refreshing.

The waitstaff was so kind and good humored. Monica and I enjoyed two wonderful salads and a few glasses of wine. We had such a great time, it felt like being on an amusement park ride. Scary and dangerous...but really isn't.

Okay...skip ahead almost 3 years. I was having coffee at the E. 185th St. Arabica with Dan P., Laura and Monica. Two people stopped and chatted with Dan P. They were talking about musicians and shows. I eventually found out that the guy is the owner of Nighttown. I told him about what a wonderful time Monica and I had that night of the blackout and he asked us if we enjoyed having dinner with the Prince of Monaco.

He proceeded to tell us the story of how one of the pricey hotels, I think the Ritz called him and asked if they could accommodate 12-14 people ASAP. He told them that his local customers come first but he would do what he could. Then the hotel told him who it was and how the Prince and his posse could not get into their rooms because of the power outage.

When they arrived he was able to set them up and said they stayed for hours eating and drinking $400 bottles of wine. He said they were very kind and generous. He said he joked with Prince Albert about having an Irish mother.

Okay...so Monica and I didn't ACTUALLY break bread with Prince Albert....but it's still kinda cool we were there huh?

NO!? You think this story is lame?

Okay...well then here is a song for you. It's from the new PonyUp! cd called "Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes" The song is called 'What's Free is Yours'. I just love her voice on this song. It's gorgeous.