Hey guys!

So on Sunday, I had the pleasure of going to see Reignwolf (nowaypablo will provide music videos) at the Barbary in Philadelphia. It was a blast! I thought I would share some pictures with you and regale you with a short short story about the time we had. Hopefully nowaypablo will pitch in too. Mostly I think we have a lot of pictures.

Originally, I thought I had a different concert on Sunday, but was still planning on being in Philadelphia, so noway and I had made plans and exchanged a virtual handshake promising that we would meet up after. This was specious for me at best, as I am not really a night owl, but I was down for it! As it turned, I didn't have a concert on Sunday and arranged to go see Reignwolf, opened by Satellite Hearts, at the Barbary.

Venue : So, surprisingly enough for me, I'd never been to the Barbary before. The internet told me it was a bar and that doors opened at 6, so I figured I would show up at 6:30, before Pabst, get a drink or two, and be ready to get my rock on at 7:30 when the music started rolling. The joke was on me. The Barbary is small. I highly doubt it is a full-time bar. When I got there at 6:30 there were two doors. One said "Exit only" and the other said "Doors open at 7:30, band entrance only until then." From outside I could hear the rehearsal. I wandered within a two-block radius and desperately texted Pabst, who was running late. Oh, and I took pictures of Philadelphia cats. These cats are tough, let me assure you.

These cats will fuck you up.

Pabst showed up and we had a photo-op. I have two black eyes and a not-quite-broken nose. Cue jokes about how I made someone tell me twice. Giant glasses, for the record, are very good at covering up broken noses and moderate black eyes - helps if you have an olive-y to yellow skin tone.

The guy in the pink hat is named Stitch and drummed for Reignwolf later that evening.

Once I got inside I was delighted by the mini-hipster-heroin goodness (disclaimer: neither Pabst nor I do heroin or have any interest in such). At the Barbary, which probably has enough room for 75-100 people on the ground floor if you are good at pretending to be sardines, you can tell it's a dedicated music venue - there's a small stage, true, but what I was amused by was the dedicated merch section to the left, something that's relatively rare at smaller venues. Clearly, the Barbary is pretty much all about the bands (on the ground floor). It was appropriately dark and they had hipster disco-lighting. It was adorable. The show was all-ages and the bar was located upstairs to accommodate for that.

Upstairs was equally enjoyable. The bartender was a cool dude with a haircut I'd consider regrettable but of which he was obviously fond. Again, the upstairs was broken out into two different sections. One was open floor space and looked like it could be used for dancing or karaoke, both of which apparently occur exclusively upstairs on a weekly basis (when the upstairs is open but downstairs isn't, it's referred to as "Barbarella.") The rest was cozy seating, romantically lit, and so on. The bar selection was more than adequate although I would not say expansive. I pregamed a little bit and headed downstairs.

Side note the bathroom graffitti was hilarious. This one's for you thenewgreen

NSFW blah blah

Then there was music. Pablo and I exchanged stories over the screams of heroin addicts and the sweat of drummers. (He wanted me to put that in.) Although I hadn't really checked out either band before I didn't hate them by the end of their sets, which is actually a really good sign. Pablo and I talked about Hubski, of course, and a couple of other topics he wanted to delve into on the site but more than one user had pointed out that they might be inappropriate. (Pabst is welcome to address those in the comments.) I swayed back and forth and pretend to dance somewhat. We talked about New York a little bit and whether or not my car had a flat tire.

Pablo commented on some of the graffitti:

When Reignwolf came on Pablo basically wet his pants so I had to excuse him for a bit. (I drank some more.)

After the show Pablo was able to secure an audience with the main man himself Reignwolf! who has a real name which I don't know. I'm sure this was awesome. I was outside enjoying the Philly night scenery.

Once we rejoined we went over to my car, made sure it did not have a flat, and departed. It was a brief, but enjoyable, encounter. I have every intention of making sure we hang out again.

Speaking of which, what Hubskiers are located in reasonable distance of NYC? Would anyone like a NYC meet-up? I will need someone to hold my hand as I cry like a baby on public transport, but otherwise, I'd like to try to make this happen. I think we have been talking about it for over a year.

My writing is not great on this one, but the story is told. The End.