I went to this here, swanky Bob Marley birthday celebration on Saturday night. I was so excited about it, for no utter reason. Well, maybe for a couple of reasons. I was excited that I finally had something exciting to do on a Saturday night, you know how Saturdays always start off really high but just dissipate into nothingness, also known as date night for some.
I was also excited for this event because it gave me a chance to finally visit the DrinkShop inside the new W Hotel downtown. This place is brand spanking new, so new, you can smell the mint as you pull into the driveway.
So did all the hype and pre-event excitement meet with my expectations? Half and half. The place was just as gorgeous and minty as I thought it would be. It just oozed class even as I drove to it on Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard. Even the little paper napkins they gave as coasters were made of pure cotton, gentle and soft to the touch not the recycled coarse paper kind. It was Atlanta upscale stepped up a notch. For a wee moment in there, looking out the window onto the Atlanta skyline, for a wee moment, I felt like I was in LA (or some other better city). But just for a wee second. I digress.
The event was hosted by a bunch of DJ's who took turns spinning Bob Marley songs, Reggaeton and dubs for an hour per DJ. They all looked like well-dressed, music obsessed beatniks that I would have gladly taken any one of them home with me. Watching them set up and spin their art was the high point of my evening, I can tell you that.
After a lot of drinking, courtesy of the One hour open bar invite, I danced to some good ole Bob Marley - which reminded me of my childhood - oogled the DJ booth longer than I really should have and, tore myself away from there. In the grand scheme of things, I had fun, while rating my Saturdays this one would rate high, not exceptionally high, but higher than some dull ones. Higher than staying at home and overheating my DVD player.
There were a whole bunch of people at the event who, though they came by themselves to I'm assuming "have some fun," they spent the better part of the evening cradling their iPhones and looking at God knows what. Misplaced attention. I wonder, is our generation just shy, introverted or just spaced out? They know they can do that at home. I even tried to talk one person out of it, as I caught him scrolling through some baby pictures on his phone, but he was not having it. The rude child just told me to mind my business. And I thought, maybe I should. Why teach etiquette to people who don't want to accept it. I classify him as one of the spaced out ones?
There was a time going out meant a lot to me. It does but it doesn't hold as much fun. It's so much preparation mentally to face the outside world and their somewhat cold exterior, it's not so much of the "How good do I look, or can I really pull this off?" It's more of, "Will I be in the mood to interact with people, even though they may not be in the mood to interact with me." It's just too much to take in at times.
On Thursday night, I went to listen to Jazz at the lovely Loews Hotel. The Thursday night Live at Loews events have a very nice setup, calm atmosphere filled with soothing music. It's a great idea by any standards to have people relax in your lobby, lounge, converse and drink all while taking in your charming ambiance. But when people get into such upscale environments, they turn into something else, they often or not feel superior to the rest of the world. It's like "Look at me, I'm superior because I get to listen to jazz at Loews, can you?" "You can't because you're not superior." Tried to talk to a couple of people and their noses were still stuck mid-flight somewhere in the cumulus clouds, they could barely even lift up their faces from their phones. How is that a night out when you spend the entire evening looking at your phone?
So one week, two hotel lobbies...pretty much the same summary, except this one lacked the scrumptious Beatniks. People need to get the sticks out of their asses and take time to enjoy life and look at the person next to them.
Are we all living the solo life even when we're surrounded by people?
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