All in a nights work

I did a "three-fer" on Thursday night, commonly known as the act of visiting 3 places in one evening. Yes, me, and on a school night nonetheless. Gosh, I can't believe I did all that and made it into work this morning no questions asked. Not even hungover one bit.

I have been home since returning from my trip to Miami. You know I often or not suffer from vacation blues, otherwise described as once I taste the sweetness of life outside Atlanta, I feel oh-so-sad to come back to my routine ATL life. It is a sickness, also known as "vacation withdrawal."

I decided to shake that off this Thursday and took in a three-fer, would have been a "four-peat" but, the last place has parking issues and I didn't feel like dealing with all that - on a school night - nonetheless.

First location.

I attended the opening of Derek J (of RHOA fame) salon in Buckhead, The J Spot Salon. This had been advertised as having an open bar, passed hors d'oeuvres, hair demonstrations and a DJ. They had me at open bar regardless. The event itself, of course, being a hair event was filled with all the best looking African American gay men Atlanta has to offer, clad in their funky supposedly "fashion forward" outfits. The women were fashion forward too, a bit too much for a week night for me, but I am old so, anything short and daring in the Fall (weather was rainy and clocking in at 60 degrees) is a bit much for me. But I must commend the good hair that was on display. The open bar was sponsored by The Perfect Bartender providing all the Remy Martin variations they could think of. Using one bartender for a thirsty crowd is quite a stretch, it was hard for her to meet all our thirsty demands so the line for drinks was always quite lengthy.

The event itself was not a whole lot of fun but it was eye candy worthy. The fun factor was strained by the nicely dressed people standing at corners, pouting like Derek Zoolander, not being friendly just because they wore their Sunday best. Comon people, when you dress up you don't have to accessorize it with an attitude, seriously, it is really not that deep! I said Hi to a couple of people and instead of responding, they moved away from their tables causing me to think, oh well. Derek J walked in and hugged everyone in attendance, including me. I thought that was so sweet. I don't know him at all, and he came up to me and said "Hi Sweetie" with a hug. That made me feel good. Upon leaving they handed me a goodie bag, a choice between Phyto products or natural hair care products from Miss Jessie's. My nappy haired self chose Miss Jessie's. The goodie bag was packed with a punch, lots of hair goodies thanking me for just stopping by...that made me feel good too. I promised I would give his salon a shoutout for such an awesome well planned event. Asides from the surly folks in attendance, it was not a bad time at all. Good luck to you Derek J.

Derek J from RHOA

Second Location

Live at Loews. Some unknown band playing covers. They covered Jason Mraz, I'm Yours and it sounded bad. How can you mess up that easy song, how hard is it? This was a bust. Ended up chatting with some guy on a work trip from Oregon who just absolutely adored our wonderful city. It always amazes me when people rant and rave about how awesome Atlanta is...is it really? But I digress.

Third Location

Kat's Cafe. Open Mic set at Kat's Cafe on Thursday nights is usually a riotous time. It's always a lot of fun, with or without a crowd. This night there was no crowd and I still had an amazing time, dancing to amazing renditions from a quality band, everything from Chaka Khan to Michael Jackson and of course, John Legend. You dance, drink, laugh hysterically at some foolishness, it's a good time. I also had the pleasure of meeting Tony Terry (which I had never heard of until I googled him) on his way out. I embarrassed him by asking him who he was since everyone seemed to be coming up to him to introduce themselves to him. How could I not remember him...it's age I tell you, you loose your marbles.

So, suffice it to say that my three-fer night went well. I have the goodie bag from Miss Jessie's and signed autograph from Tony Terry to prove it.

Vacation withdrawal gone.