this is life in austin & aspen » The Marq

New bar: LANAI

Lyssa — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:12:18 +0000

I am so in love with Lanai. it hasn’t even opened yet, and I’m already in love.

TOP THREE REASONS LANAI WILL BE AWESOME (in order of importance/my excitement):

1) My favorite bartender in the whole wide world. Jack. He’s wonderful. You will love him too if you meet him, because he is the happiest, friendliest bartender ever.

2) It’s a rooftop patio bar with a retractable roof. Never fear the elements!

3) It’s a rooftop patio bar on my favorite bar corner in Austin: 5th & Congress. Not only can I visit Prague for a cheap beverage and whirl on the stripper pole (joke!), but I can stop by to see Bachelor Brad and hot door guy Todd at The Marq, then head upstairs to watch everyone else waiting in line from an awesome patio.

The Grand Opening is sometime in next week, get excited!!!

Dancing on West Sixth: Impossible?!

Lyssa — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:06:48 +0000

West Sixth Street really came into an identity of its own in the last two or three years. Some of the tourists haven’t caught on, and Austin’s burgeoning see-and-be-seen crowd has taken to the west side of Congress for its upscale bars, lounges, and restaurants. West Sixth is the antithesis to the craziness that spills out of the East Sixth into the streets so much so that they close it down from Red River to Brazos. It’s classy.

But as I’ve mentioned before, I LOVE to dance, and the only places to really dance, with dance floors and deejays worth a spin, are not on West Sixth. Now, there is The Boom Boom Room at Union Park. I do like Union Park–there’s always good scenery! Whenever I tell my friends I want to dance though, they suggest The Boom Boom Room. I think they like it more for the name than the dancing, because anyone who has ever danced in there can attest: it is not a good place for dancing. The website even describes it as “a space ideal for intimate conversation.” Um, intimate conversation and grinding beats generally don’t go together. It’s crowded, hot, and people are constantly walking through–not dancing. Why is this the only place to dance on West Sixth? Just because it’s a devoted room?

So why the dearth of dance spots on West Sixth? Do people dance less as they get older? Is it uncouth to be seen sweaty on a dance floor if your whole point to going out is to be seen? Is the older crowd just less fun? I haven’t been to The Ranch yet, so it’s possible it is a dance spot, but I doubt it. Can we just move The Marq to West Sixth? I know it’s making the 5th & Congress corner cool again, but West Sixth could use the help too. Brothers Bachelor, where are you?

Spill

Lyssa — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:35:00 +0000

So there’s this club in Austin called Spill. The Real World cast made it famous when they would go get drunk and get into fights at Spill … so naturally, Austinites worth their salt (and over the age of 21, because many of the patrons of Spill are not in fact over 21) avoid Spill at all costs.

Unfortunately, if you want a good ole-dancedown, where girls shimmy and shake and bump and grind and guys try to stand behind them while they do it, there are few places in Austin to fulfill this desire. And since The Marq‘s deejay started sucking (mixing in non-danceable ’80s tracks and cutting songs off after a 30-second spot) and the line starts snaking around the block before midnight, there is absolutely nowhere for the fabulous, fun 23-to-28-year-old demographic to just DANCE.

All of these factors (plus a stop at Prague, where our favorite bartender hooks it up every time) led my crowd to Spill last night. Much to our chagrin. Turns out, we had a fantastic time. One friend almost got kicked out (no one gets kicked out of Spill) for making faces, one friend made out with one–or was it two?–guys on the dance floor, a third sealed the deal for later on, and the rest just relished the dancing.

So I begrudgingly admit that I have a newfound fondness for Spill. Sure, they lost my ID, the door guy tried to get me to pay him to let 5 girls skip a line of 27 guys, and random 19-year-olds grabbed my butt in the name of “squeezing past,” but there’s really no place else to just get down. So here’s to Spill.