This Saturday, we’re really pleased to be playing with our old, dear pals, Judas Bear (featuring Thane Matcek of All Transistor, Sad Like Crazy, Linoleum Experiment). But we’re pretty bummed that this is probably our last show at the Proletariat.

You know the Prolo. It’s the big red bar located at 903 Richmond. Used to be the Blue Iguana. Well, me and the Prolo go way back. We have feelings and history, and it’s hard saying goodbye. But after 5 1/2 years in business, they’re leaving us this February, when the bulldozers come to clear the way for light rail on Richmond Avenue.

I express no opinion on the merits of Rail on Richmond. This post is about me and the Prolo.

I got way too drunk there one million times. I quit drinking there. I started smoking there. I quit smoking again. I played there at least 50 times. I hosted the Happy Hour Invitational there, including a Christmas Party where me and Teddy Walters and her sister sang Christmas Songs from Peanuts and Dom stole the one gift that had liquor inside of it.

I gave out my digits there. And I got some too. I made some questionable life decisions in that place, but I chose my friends wisely, and we all made a second home at the Proletariat. For a good 2-year window the Proletariat was my Cheers. I’d walk across the street from my garage apartment on Colquitt and into a dark but friendly living room with the best jukebox in town and my pals all around. More often than not, there was already a Lone Star on the counter for me before I got in the door. It cannot be overstated: I will miss this place.

Me and the Prolo have shared a lot of history, and we share the same birthday in late September. In 2007, when the Prolo turned 5 and I turned 33, I confess I was nowhere around. But I was there when it got born. I remember the owner, Denise Ramos, meeting with me shortly before the Proletariat opened and asking for my help getting the word out about the new place. Maybe booking or playing a few early shows. She didn’t really need my help then or now, I don’t think. But I was glad she asked. Glad that I got to be there in the early moments of something special.

In just five years, Denise, along with Shawna Forney and everyone else who’s worked there, built a humble bar with a questionable history of success into a local institution. A place that had shows and DJs and drink specials, sure. But Denise broke the mold opening the door for some odd ideas: Starr Projects, Spelling Bees, Dating Games, live music during Happy Hour, and the best anniversary parties ever.

But there aren’t going to be any more anniversary parties. Drunk or sober, I’ve rolled my amp out of that place more times than I can count. And this Friday is probably my last time to do that. And I don’t know what that’s gonna feel like, but it won’t feel right.

I hope these last few months don’t turn into a funeral, though. Even if I can’t be there every night, I hope every night turns into a party. Or at least one of those wakes where everyone reenacts their dumbest, most thrilling-est memories of the dead and dying.

For me, I will trip once more on the invisible wooden ramp. And when I recover to rest against the legs of the sound booth, I will raise my glass to you.

…

Here are the show details.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 29TH

Judas Bear
Bright Men of Learning
Che Arthur
Elaine Greer & Band

DOORS AT 8
SHOW AT 9
8 DOLLARS 21+
10 DOLLARS 18+