Our Man in Antigua

gawd…Zippy the Pinhead…where is he? probably not in Antigua….hmm…maybe later.

new joint on 4th calle…across from Tartines…upstairs and with some kinda link to the Circus Bar at the Lake…’she told me but i spaced it, while waiting for the bartender(sic) to make a simple vodka/rocks…more training, dude…this isn’t rocket science…John Wilbur and friends eating…pizza good, the hot fudge sundae even more good…music? yeah…great interior decorations..they might make the cut, business-wise, which is more than can be said for that lame excuse for a ‘motorcycle bar’, Le Escape…next to Welten? closed on a Friday night?

up the street to Peter the G’s ever improving El Caminante…there’s a new bar downstairs(profit center!), new paint and the beat goes on..el Muro? packed with Guatemaltecos! every room…band setting up in back..

Lava? Shaun and Jason’s new creation? when you’ve got to send out the back-up bbq grill so as to increase production, you know that you’re doing the right thing…Jason? back in Russia, near the Pole or Siberia or some wierd Russkie place,doing his mining eng’r/gold mine stuff..who knew? another great, ‘only in Antigua’ kinda guy..Blue Sky Mary and sweet friend, just fired from her Ministry of Health job today…taking it as well as possible, but with an 18 month old daughter? didn’t want to play the political game with Senora Torres a la Colom…politics? per Shaun of O’lot, those of us with DPI cards can vote in the mayoral election(go Adolfo!)but we need a special form…he’s on it, ever since a Dutch lady found his DPI card at RENAP, in a stack of others, waiting to be claimed…the Guate gov’t in actiion..zzzzz/not…note from JH via another gringo who used his Visa debit card at PriceDumb in the City via the BAC ATM machine..promptly cancelled per Visa/New York’s decision to block all BAC transactions..what next? who next?  

upper 5th ave? crowds at studio 35/Gaia…Sangre, despite their campaign of ‘all you can drink for 75q’…empty…will they ever run outa money? will Ixnay ever get the message that they’re dead meat and fold their hand? will Hector’s ever have an open table, much less space at the bar? spoke with Ed of the Escalade today…nope, its not available for ‘moving stuff’…o well, Plan B…figured out that i dont’ need the usual ‘moving boxes’…black plastic garbage bags will suffice..also for a Halloween costume…two holes for eyes and you’re “white trash”…Ron on sax at Olot…followed by someone..i bailed..Pangea? dead…the Lounge? a cemetery…told ‘ya..’gotta have an overflow crowd first and give ’em a place to hang while waiting for a table…there’ll be some changes in that location in a few months….this isn’t a ‘high cuisine’ destination anymore…the economics have changed…burgers/pizza/ice cream….ran into the ‘old magician’ tonight…new black top hat, in front of Sangre…’fleecing…no, educating the younger crowd about cards/sleight of hand..

hey…same ol story…you play, you pay…just like everything else in life..’have a great weekend…film at eleven.