Wakamba Bar | Black Iron Burger | Tryp Hotel | G** Song | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
I’m sneaking The Lumineers’ tune at the bottom. Out of context, it probably makes a bit more sense as a finisher so let’s get to the Guinness pints first…
#GuinnessChallengeSeason
@Kids don’t try this at home. Not just because you’re underage and will have plenty of pints to drink if that ends up being your thing when you’re older but also because Guinness is actually best served in a pint glass from a tap. A pint of Guinness varies depending on the drinking establishment. If the keg it sits in is rarely poured, it can lead to some underwhelming taste. Rather than stealing gimmicks, I’d like to start taking Notes while drinking Guinness. My grandfather from Connemara, whom I never got the chance to meet, Thomas Davis, used to drink pints and by all accounts was a self-taught thinker. The one rule I’ve imposed on myself is that I will only have 1 pint per sitting from each establishment I review, so @AnyoneWorrying, don’t worry about my drinking habits. The Guinness Challenge is to “cut the G” on your first sip (more like a gulp and a half). If this is your first time hearing about it, I didn’t come up with the fun challenge @YouTheReader can try the next time you have a Guinness. The 0.0 to 10.0 scale will be extraordinarily nuanced but as a reference point, the only perfect 10.0 I plan ever to give out is at the Guinness Factory in Dublin one day.
Song On In The Background: El Ultimo Beso by Polo y Los Apsons
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: Dive Bar with a Latin vibe. On the TV is world news about how King Charles made his first speech to parliament or something… Who cares? Us Yanks won the war. Bar’s bar. The margaritas are recommended. I’m only having this and 1 more pint. This song on in the background is the Spanish version of Pearl Jam’s Last Kiss. Both versions are good tunes. I have to look up what Wakamaba means when I write this. The El Presidente beer is their most popular. The Guinness was in the bottle and very little English was being spoken but the vibes were immaculate.
After doing a bit of research, the great Anthony Bourdain visited this bar on Parts Unknown. He said of Wakamaba Bar, “‘Distinguished’ is a term used with the creative license when it comes to this divey spot. So is “cocktail lounge,” apparently. ‘There’s no mixologist behind the bar. If you were to order a drink with more than two components, you’d get the dirty look,’ the chef said. He means that with no disrespect, of course. ‘It’s a remnant of another era,’ he said. ‘I believe people have died there.’ Still, Bourdain frequented the bar often, loving its Tiki decorations especially. Wakamba is ‘ultracheese kitsch with an element of danger.’” I agree with this take. Located on 8th Ave, it’s got a distinct feel to it. Cool dive bar spot. I look forward to grabbing another drink at Wakamba Bar again!
Song On In The Background: Be Right There by Diplo & Sleepy Tom
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: The Yankees fans next to me are asking “Do they have the balls to trade for Juan Soto or will they just run it back?” Both fans are in Rangers jerseys and heading to the game. When I mentioned Week to Week Notes they said, “When sitting at the company office shitter who doesn’t like to read?” Exactly, I knew I still have some potential for a base! “So you’re trying to be like Dave Portnoy.” I responded, “Nah, I’m just trying to be Tom Davis.” They responded, “Who the fuck is that? You?” I said “Yes” while shaking their hand and giving them a Week to Week Notes card. They got a kick out of that. Get the burger and go to the Ranger game.
I remember this vividly. I didn’t catch the Rangers’ fans’ names and they said they didn’t have Instagram but they did subscribe to the emails through Substack. Would be very funny if they read this now. One of my funnier encounters, for sure. It’s always great talking to real die-hard sports fans. I look forward to grabbing another drink and burger at Black Iron Burger again!
Song On In The Background: The Monster by Eminem ft. Rihanna
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: Nino is the bartender. Bar is at Wyndham on W 35th, I saw they had a pint of Guinness looking through their window. Happy Hour from 3 to 6 PM. Hotel Gastrobar is the official name of the bar. The hotel guests next to me are here for one. They have arrows displayed in the directions of Times Square, Paris, San Paulo, and Madrid. Starbucks is proudly served here. Cool setup for a hotel bar. I think you might have to be staying here to grab a drink so I gotta go!
Tryp Hotel is a great stay if you’re in New York City for the week or weekend and looking to be in the middle of the action. I don’t do Hotel Reviews just yet so I’ll leave it at that. I look forward to grabbing another drink at Tryp Hotel again!
Today’s tune is Gun Song by The Lumineers. Every month I do a song from their album in chronological order so this is their 4th track off their 2nd album called Cleopatra. I didn’t put “Gun Song” in the title or on the social media post because that felt like a bit much, but the gun in this tune is a metaphor. It’s also kinda a short tune that’s a bit vague so Wesley Schultz's explanation of the lyrics helps bring some clarity.
Out of context, there doesn’t seem to be a connection between owning a gun and the “one” he’s talking about. The inspiration behind Schultz happened…
“This moment still feels so fresh in my mind – My father had just passed away a couple weeks prior, and his dresser still had his clothes in it. I was all out of clean black socks, and the restaurant I was working at would send you home if you showed up without black socks. So I can remember running late for work and racing into his room, rummaging through his top drawer in search of some black socks, and accidentally finding a pistol he’d kept in there. Finding that gun was symbolic, because I thought I knew my dad so well, and yet I had no clue about him keeping a gun in the house. I had all these questions for him, and now I couldn’t ask him those questions and so many more. That drive to work that day, wearing my dad’s black socks, I felt my mind racing from all that that gun represented.”
Listening to this for the past few weeks before reading the quotes, I thought these lines about the sweetheart fit very well with yesterday’s Whatever You Like.
Enough of that, Schultz further stated…
“I wrote the lyrics to this song while walking my mom’s dog through the woods – and starting with the first verse and each that followed, the plot takes a left turn. The first verse starts off sounding like the person I’m speaking to is my enemy, until he turns into my protector, making the bad men run. In each verse I tried to set something up, only to change course completely.”
With the context of his quotes, this now makes a ton of sense. Everybody grows up thinking they know everything about their parents, but we forget they may have been our age too. Schultz is initially shocked that his dad would own a gun, but then realizes it was to protect him and his family. Look, it’s a Wednesday and the last thing I’m trying to do is get into the middle of a pro or anti-gun debate on a Week to Week Notes post about Guinness pints. It symbolizes the lengths people will go to protect his wife and kids. It’s not like his father would wave around or brag about owning the Smith & Wesson, it was a secret he kept to shield his family from bad. There is something very admirable about that.
I can’t think of one bad song that uses La-la-la-la-la, as a filler. They use it perfectly here as the tune’s music builds up for the 1, 2, 1, 2, 3…
The ending makes total sense as it now connects all the dots. When he was younger, he thought he knew everything about his father. When I initially heard the song before Schultz’s context, I thought about how there’s a moment in every man’s life (maybe women too, I don’t know never been in your shoes) where you want to become more than just your father’s son. Here Schultz is simply saying he still doesn’t own a gun because he doesn’t have a sweetheart, but she’d be the “one.” (The “you” in the 1st Verse.)
Sidenote: This was a song by The Luminners I always thought was solid but never really put too much thought into it. Now I think it’s a brilliantly written story with only 129 words used and it fits in well as the 4th song behind Sleep On The Floor (PPP Week 53 Vol I), Ophelia (Week 58 Vol I), & Cleopatra (Week 62 Vol II). I don’t own a gun either. I have no reason to. Great tune.