OT: 14th Annual "Pinfield Era" Melody Bar Reunion (2/29/20) at the Elks in NB
- Thread starter RU848789
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I did have a Fat Darrell afterwards, lol. Was another great reunion, with maybe the biggest crowd ever, probably because people knew Matt was coming - had 350+ and the dance floor was still nearly full at 12:30 pm when the Elks told us we had to stop. I'm so friggin' sore and we have our weekly soccer match in 6 hours.
Sounds familiar. We usually started at Pattis for bar pies and 90cent drafts. By the time we left the bar would be covered with dimes. After the roxy/melody it was onto Rutgers Chicken or Steakout.
A little history, my wife's parents owned Pattis, by spending so much time there I eventually wore her down to go out with me and the rest is history. Her grandfather owned the Roxy way back in the 1950s. the beautiful wood bar from the Roxy ended up in some little place over on Rt 27 in Kendall Park back around 1995 or so. I wonder what happened to it or if it's still there
Maybe not so weird. Went with the wife last night. We tried to get in the spirit. Absolutely was not feeling it. Hung for about an hour.We bailed. Looked like a lot of folks were having a good time. Live music is more my thing anyway.
I spent a ton of time , along with poster NewWaveDave, at Pattis'. Draft beer, shots of blackberry brandy and thin crust pizza ! I still remember Tony with his head always at a slight angle. And the pleasant waitress we called Sweety pie because she always had a smile on her face.
Were these your parents ?
No, Greasy Tony's was on Easton/Somerset (at least in the 80s; had been somewhere else before); Steakout was a pizza/cheesesteak place a block south of the Melody on French St. (27). If I recall correctly, it opened in the late 80s and tons of people would go there during or after partying at the Melody/Roxy. Decent cheesesteaks for this area.
That's too bad - maybe almost too crowded at times last night (previous, less crowded ones probably felt a little cozier). I kept looking for the 5'9" guy with the Alt-Rok t-shirt, but no luck.
That's cool. Also spent a ton of time at Patti's, especially the summers after my sophomore and junior years when I lived at 57 Ray St. behind the Barn. Loved living there - easy walk to everything. Also did the start at Patti's or Stuff Yer Face and then the Melody/Roxy thing; afterwards, we occasionally went to the Steakout, but much more frequently went to the Somerset Diner, especially if we had a bunch of people (just more choices).
Have you ever met @InGregITrust? He ended up marrying the daughter of the folks who eventually bought Patti's and turned it into the Olive Branch, which he's been running for years now. You should come up to the OB one of these days for an away game - still looks the same and they have every TV tuned to the RU game with loud game sound. We could get Mike and JMac, too...
The more I learn about you I realize we have way too much in common to not have run into each other more. Same school, same bars, same vacation spot, same employer. That sounds like a great idea, the Mrs gets a little emotional every time I mention going up there to see what its like but I'm sure I can convince her.
Dani Day has never shown up - s/he is supposedly in Florida...
Should be available in the next day or two - Ed Wong, the DJ and tech wiz who puts together the sound equipment for the event (which fills most of a U-Haul van - it's complicated, but the sound is amazing) also publishes the set lists from all the DJs, including interesting notes on the song selections - he also puts a recording of the whole thing up on MixCloud. This year went deeper into less well known songs than past events, which was fine by me.
Yep, it's a little uncanny. Let's do it. Pick a game and we'll get the email going...
This would make a good episode of Always Sunny. A bunch of people in their 60s that get together each year in honor of a bar that was knocked down to put up the premier cancer center in the state.
Major bad move, IMO. Don't think I recognized a single song in the hour or so we were there, and before last night, I thought my knowledge of music was deep.
If only you had stayed past 9 pm (I'm assuming you left before 9), when it got much more "mainstream."
Hey now - we're in our 40s and 50s. Sunny is probably my favorite show on TV - we could make it like the HS reunion episode, lol.
Yes, Mary and John are my in laws. My wife is calling her mom to see if she has any pictures.
I spoke to RU#s, we will be coming up in the fall for a road game. None of us have been in there since they sold it.
No, I realized you were not there to make those requests.:boxing:
Was expecting more Slayer, early Metallica, and Corrosion of Conformity, which is more my cup of tea.o_O
Actually--and maybe they were played, and I just did not recognize their less familiar songs--Stone Roses, The Clash, The Smiths, Catherine Wheel, Devo, Oasis, etc.
Isn't that from an age where people lived without taking pictures of everywhere they went, everyone they knew and everything they did?
Pattis pies were known far and wide as the best pizza in New Brunswick.
This was the "Pinfield Era" reunion, celebrating essentially what he played every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday through the early 90s and that never (or almost never) included Slayer, Metallica, Corrosion of Conformity or any other metal or metal-ish music - not sure why you would've expected that music. I know Thursdays often had more industrial and a bit of metal, but not much, and Saturday's were very similar to Matt's nights, with almost all punk/alternative.
The hardest edged stuff that got played on Saturday was probably Nirvana (On A Plain), Sisters of Mercy (This Corrosion), Nine Inch Nails (Head Like a Hole), Nitzer Ebb (Murderous) and Rage (Killing in the Name of - my one request). The earlier, more obscure stuff from typical Melody bands was exactly what a large percentage of people who weighed in beforehand (like me) wanted, since it was starting to feel like too many songs were repeated each year. And since this is a private event, it's more geared towards the 250+ regulars, not the 50-100 folks showing up for the first or second time.
Here's a link to the set lists and what went into the technical setup and the song selections (the set lists are near the bottom of the FB note). If the link doesn't work, I can copy/paste - it's a really interesting read if you have the time (makes my original post look paltry, lol), as Ed Wong does an awesome job giving the perspective from the DJs behind the decks.
D'oh! My bad - didn't even notice the smiley. But yeah, the first 2 hours was a bit more deep cuts than usual, but from then on, many of the big Melody hits came out. Ed is verbose, but I love his post-mortems and the view into the thinking of the songs. I don't care much about the audio tech stuff, but some do.
I admit that I was not a regular at the Melody. Hung there a few times, and I was not much of a bar crawler, as I do not drink. Give me live bands, and I can stand in a bar for days.
Ha. My buddy Al was the official photographer for some of Dani's parties. He took a pic of her dancing or something and there I was staring weirdly at her in the background. They used it on flyers for her parties.
I also went to HS with Shannon. Never paid a dime when she was at the door.
"Announcing Patti's Restaurant and Grill"
Source: October 16, 1963 Daily Home News
And before that, the building was used as an Elks Club.
Love both hearing great DJs in bars and going to bars and seeing live bands, still (just saw Cloud Nothings and next up are the Jesus and Mary Chain in NYC and the Old 97s at the Wonder Bar). I've often thought of buying a bar, but then I realize how much work it is and how hard it is to get good help and I come to my senses, lol.
Have you seen the Jesus and Mary Chain live? Reviews have been all over the place for them, and have they gotten over their past history? I may hit that show in Brooklyn.
Officially bumping the thread. Updated thread title and first post have the details for the event, but briefly, it's 2/24, 7 pm-12:30 am at the Elks in NB and it draws over 300 people every year. It's a private event with an age restriction: you had to have been 21 or over in 1992 (or 44 or over now), which was the end of the Pinfield Era, as he went on to fame and fortune at MTV and elsewhere. While anyone 44 or over could theoretically go, the point of the event is for people who used to go to the Melody Bar to go and connect with old friends, do a little dancing, and relive a bit of the magic from back in the day. It certainly beats the crap out of Murder She Wrote reruns. Hope to see a few of you there...
