Last Saturday marked the first annual Moon Block party - an arts and music festival in the Pomona Arts Colony - organized by the equally talented and hairy Phil Pironne of Jeffertitti’s Nile, a psychedelic acid stew of a band that makes you want to dance in a meadow and do some very bad things. The event was a total success, no doubt. Feel good, hippie vibes all around.

I cabbed it over with my friend, let’s call him Big Balls Billy (BBB - not sexual, trust) as neither of us should be responsible for curtailing the fun (aka booze consumption) when live music is involved. We scoped the scene and then headed over to the wine bar, DBA256 for some beers while things were picking up. 

DBA has always been a chill scene for me as I usually run into some Claremont peeps there during the art walks. Not today, folks! The evening started off innocently enough - there was some awkwardness in the service that was easily overlooked at the time given our simple, yet immediate goal of getting drunk. Things took a turn later but this is more or less how they began:

Me: How’s that [insert name of “Belgian Style Beer” I can’t remember]?

Bartender: ….Hey [other bartender] how’s that [beer I can’t remember]?

Other Bartender: It’s good. It’s a lighter Belgian style beer. 

Me: Ok, fine let’s do it.

I’m thinking, no shit, it’s listed in the “Belgian Style” category on the menu. But whatevs. No need to get critical right out of the gate. I have my beer, I’m happy. Then this:

BBB: How’s that [insert name of “Belgian Style Beer” I can’t remember]?

Bartender:…Hey [other bartender] how’s that [beer I can’t remember]?

Other Bartender: It’s good. It’s a Belgian style beer. 

And then she went on to describe it in terms of sweetness compared to two other beers. Sweetness?? So, ok. I want to say this without sounding like I’m on a high horse because I knowwww I’m not perfect and I definitely do a lot of bull shitting when I’m on the job but here it is: YOU NEED TO KNOW YOUR BEERS AND WINES, PEOPLE. Especially, ESPECIALLY, when you tout on your website to have “One of the largest Wine and Beer selections in Southern California.” WHICH THEY DON’T. The second bar tender was sampling the beers from the tap and claimed that BBB’s beer was her absolute favorite. If you’re tasting that much, you should know how to describe the beer. Simple! These were $8 beers! We’re not messing around. 

Side note about their wines: I recognized a few of their wines by the glass, one of which was a $9 glass of Stella Rosa, a sweet red wine to be served chilled that goes for $8.95 FOR THE BOTTLE from the winery. $9 glass vs $8.95 bottle. I don’t think I need to drive my point home any further. 

Anyhoo, our beers were good. They even looked the other way as we poured our second round into some cups on the counter and took them to go. We couldn’t be happier at that point. Red cups in hand, we set out on a quest for some cigs for BBB and some tall cans for the both of us. A couple blocks later we were dodging hookers and homeless people and found what we were looking for. 

We hustled back to the block party as the sun set and before we got robbed and shanked, drinking our beers on the street the whole way. My, how good it feels to do illegal things! Back at the block we ran into some of BBB’s friends and grabbed some food at Alladin Jr. I desperately needed some pita to soak up the booze sloshing around in my empty stomach (it ended up being a little too late for that [sheepish shoulder shrug]).

After dinner we made it back to the block in time to run into some Claremont peeps and see Jeffertitti’s Nile and they rocked, as usual. I was a bit disappointed with the sound quality but I know they were battling some unusual conditions and I really know nothing about these things or what caused it. I just grooved in my own little drunken world anyway. After the show we all cruised back to DBA. 

Whoops! That was our first mistake. And the start of a string of drunken, convoluted, misspelled, tweets on my part that I really have no desire to read. 

Check out part 2 for the rest of our plight.