7/21/11, the CODES travelled to Saratoga Springs, New York to play a gig at a large bar there in the entertainment district.  Saratoga is about 25 miles north of Albany, New York and home of a famous horse-racing track. Interesting gig on several levels.  I always learn something.  (Crummy photo above taken with flash which washed out the real ambience)

So we were playing at a large tavern called the “Putnam Den”, in the middle of what appeared to be a large block of bars and eateries catering to (relatively) young people, most of which sported live bands. So the sounds of music and kids having fun were all around. The Putnam was typical of most large bars, big dance floor and a stage for bands with lots of lighting.  The bad news for us was the outside temp was around 100 degrees F, and high humidity so we elected not to play on the outside stage, which had been planned.

Our gig was 8 pm to 10 pm, following which another band set up and started playing about 10:30 pm. Gary had put up posters at Albany Medical Center and so I think about 20 or 30 doctors, nurses and others showed up to hear us.  When we started at 8, there were probably about 30 people in the place, and like most bands, we started out start out slow. One or two people clapping after each song. That’s the way it usually works.

Interestingly, through the night, as we got into a groove, the crowd did as well. By the time 9:30 rolled around, we were getting sustained applause and whistles and I want to say there might have been as many as 100 people there, all seemingly having a good time. We closed our set with our usual “smells like Teen Spirit” in which Gary and Stephan collapse on stage to the howl of me feeding back my amp. Then we did an encore and quickly dismantled and helped the other band set up

I can’t resist a few observations.

We walked around this whole area of bars and restaurants festooned with young people (on a Thursday night, no less).  I say young people, I mean in their middle-late 20s mostly.  We had a drink at a bar a block away and got to observe the antics of predatory lupine females out man hunting. I pick on females advisedly because there were about a 2:1 ratio female: male, so there was competition for the available males. Watching the fun from a sideline position as my age group is obviously not in the fray. Technically I would be in the “sugar-daddy” group if I had any interest in shelling out the money, which I don’t. Maybe I haven’t gotten the right deal yet.  (A little more wine my dear?)

Seems like when I was there in the 60s, young women were doing the same thing.  Skirt lengths in Sydney, Australia on R & R from Vietnam were about the length of a fatigue top. They all had to carry handkerchiefs to cover the front when they sat down. In the 70s, they called “TGI Fridays” a “meat Market”, for obvious reasons.  I don’t think it has changed much. These girls we were rubbing shoulders with in this crowded bar were very, very attractive and they intuitively understood this was a marketing deal for a business transaction involving bartering for goods and services. They knew what their potential clients expected and they knew how to package it.

Most of their dress hems landed just below their infra-gluteal fold.  Many tank tops the top of which landed just above the nipple line. Of course, the bar played rock music loud enough so conversations were difficult or impossible. This gave them a reason to move their bodies periodically with the rhythm, when they weren’t, crossing, uncrossing and re-crossing their legs and tugging at their tank tops insuring the skin line wasn’t too high or too low.

The product was displayed for the perusal of the potential client. The clients perused the available products and in true supply and demand fashion, deals were made just like in the pit of the NY Stock Exchange.  Is this a great country or what???