Stuck in a Christopher Guest Movie?

Over the weekend, I visited my friend Scott in Atlanta. My friend Brian also went down to visit his cousin. After we arrived, our two parties went to dinner together. We went to this place called Bahama Breeze.

Yes, I know it sounds like a fruity mixed drink. Well, as it turns out the place also looked and felt like a fruity mixed drink. The architecture screamed Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts, while the staff, well, one staff member screamed insane asylum.

The whole night I couldn't put my finger on it. There was something slightly off. I was having a great time, but there was something just not right.

If you're familiar with Atlanta, Bahama Breeze was outside the Perimeter. This is similar to outside the Beltway in the DC metro area, in that the Perimeter is I285 which loops around Atlanta. Bahama Breeze is approximately seven miles outside said Perimeter. Essentially, what this means to those not familiar with either is that Bahama Breeze was in the outer suburbs.

[side note] As the night ended, I told Brian that I would not be leaving Atlanta city limits the next day.

After we were seated by the hostess, the waitress came darting over. Her pep and enthusiasm were palpable. She had the spunk of someone who just downed six cans of Red Bull, only I imagine that she avoids caffeine. From her aspirations of becoming an ambassador to her confusion over whether she and one of the bartenders are "dating" and her odd way of saying that her religion did not allow her to eat pork (ehh.. okay, so what), she was very forthcoming with a lot. She was quite the open book as Eric, Brian's cousin-in-law, pointed out.

[another side note] Eric's got a full studio in his house. For Jen's, Brian's cousin, sake, the room's walls are sound proof. So when we're were in there drunk at 4:00 in the morning, she could sleep! Mmmmm, I think you'd like his album.

He also pointed out that she was Reese Witherspoon's character in Legally Blonde. At this point it hit me. I knew what it was that made the evening so strange. I was in a Christopher Guest movie, more specifically Waiting for Guffman. All the characters were there:

• Parker Posie's Blizzard making waitress character: "We could watch TV."
• The Willards
• Dr Pearl was the guy at the bar singing bad covers of TV theme songs

Then to make life a little more interesting, we arrived at our next destination "Wild Bills", the areas largest country western bar in Georgia (or something like that) complete with mechanical bull. As we approached, after driving past the strip mall complete with a Chili's, the parking lot gave this Indian American a "bad feeling."

I think it was a good thing that there was a $14 cover to get in that helped convince those that still wanted in that we should seek alternative entertainment. The 50's cover band Swinging medallions, the self proclaimed party band of the south, definitely wasn't winning crowds over either. The parking lot looked pretty empty.

So we went to an alternative location: Sweetwater Tavern, a very, very dive bar. That night there were several bands playing, of which we only caught the last. The band was Abyss - a death metal/RAtM-like band. The odd part, if I were to pick one, was the crowd. It ranged from typical white trash dive bar girls and boys, to black folk that didn't exactly strike you as the type to be into death metal, and finally to several "old" people, ala the bands parents?

It is worthy to note that in the crowd, perhaps a member of one of the prior bands, was one we dubbed as "Evil Roger."

Most of my readers have at one point met Roger. "Evil Roger" vaguely looked like Roger. "Evil Roger" wore a hat in a similar fashion as Roger. He had the same pronounced jaw bone. The same round-rim glasses. He wore a red shirt, not one that Roger would wear, but red here is the key. Roger would wear a red shirt.

Besides vaguely looking like Roger, he had many of the same mannerisms. Most of you know of his mannerisms, his gait, etc. Most notable is how Roger behaves when listening/watching a live band. "Evil Roger" had all of these mannerisms.

Well why then was he "Evil Roger". Besides looking like, and behaving like Roger, "Evil Roger" looked, well, evil. He had a goatee that was long enough to part down the middle. Each part came to a point about four inches below his chin. He had tattoos and piercing across his body. Roger, conversely, is quite clean cut.

The night ended and in typical dive bar fashion a fight almost broke out over a woman or something like that.