#42: Bat Bar

The Bar

Bat Bar. 214 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 2/15/17 @ 8:30pm.

The Drink

Skywalker. New Amsterdam berry vodka, melon liqueur, sweet and sour, Sprite. $6.

After I gave my request, we were given two choices: this Star Wars-themed drink, and one that wasn't Star Wars-themed. My decision could not have been easier. I was a huge Star Wars nerd when I was a kid, to the point where I still have the Thrawn series on my bookshelf and occasionally find myself looking at non-canon spaceship renderings or hilariously elaborate technical commentaries. Bat Bar isn't exactly a cantina, and I didn't gain any Force powers after I drank this mildly sweet concoction, but it was a fine drink for the price.

The Crew

Aaron, Rome, Travis.

Notes

Bat Bar has three sub-bars to handle busier times - a quick shot bar, a VIP bar upstairs, and the "main" bar we ordered from, which on a Wednesday night was the only one open to serve the handful of patrons. It's got to be tough for dance/party venues on off-nights, and especially for the acoustic duo playing to an essentially empty room when we walked in. Not to get all Inside Llewyn Davis about it, but sometimes I wonder what the musicians rocking out to a handful of people are thinking. It's really difficult to make it as a musician, even in such a music-friendly town as Austin, for many reasons that the city's survey identified in detail. But beyond prosaic monetary pressures, it takes a real commitment to your craft to go out on a Wednesday night and play your heart out to the indifferent churn of Sixth Street stumblers who stay for a song and then depart, like us. As a patron, I appreciate live music almost no matter what it is, since few things are lamer than a thoughtless Pandora station. But for a band that's hoping to make an artistic statement, the sheer paucity of people can't be good. The opposite of fame is not notoriety but obscurity. I know it's literally meaningless to hope that everyone gets big (attention is limited, and if everyone is equally famous then no one is), but I really feel for the guys strumming like their life depends on it to nobody in particular.