Chapter 34

Chapter 34: The Entertainment Bar

It is time to draw attention to the Entertainment Bar. This is pretty much an autonomous unit on the side of the Bull Public House, facing the car park. It is a godsend for local bands and musicians in South West London. Live music of all kinds was catered for. There are also regular open 'jams' and 'cutting contests' where musicians can show off their skills. Several local DJs performed there. Some to a very high standard, using club/boiler room style mixes. Rappers were welcome and Grime was big. Def Metal, you name it, they all appeared from time to time in the Bull's Entertainment Bar. These gigs are usually packed. The Entertainment Bar can be accessed via an external door or by the newly extended Lounge Bar. Bouncers are always present on both these doors during music nights.

The bar serves soft drinks, orange juices some energy drinks, canned, bottled beers, and Alchi pops. Real ale drinkers top-up in the Lounge Bar next door. The food served is fairly basic and does not require a lot of preparation. People go there to listen to music and or dance. The room itself is soundproof with all the correct fire exits etc.

There have been no outside complaints to date. There is an excellent PA along with additional sound equipment. All in all, this turns in a very good profit. People sometimes queue around the block to get in. It had its own set of bar staff and technicians, yes answerable to Beryl and Sid but they were left to get on with it. Of course Beryl and Sid monitored what was going on. The 'bottom line' was ticking along very nicely, and again, there were no complaints.

'Keep Music Live' as the Musician's Union states.

To date, Old Slippery had paid scant interest in the Entertainment Bar. He could hear all the different varieties of music pumping out of that bar. This left him more than a bit nonplussed, He did not know how to react. All these different 'modern' music styles seemed very alien to him. When he did venture in briefly, he could make no sense at all of the 'random' styles of dancing he witnessed. There seemed no discipline or order in any of it. None of the grace and refinement say of a Minuet. Plus why was everything so loud? Yes, he had a sense of hearing left. This was pretty sensitive given he was long dead. Plus his memories were still pretty intact. Of all the elements of the 21st century, he found all these different styles of music and some associated dancing a long way beyond perplexing. Far more so than anything else in the 'modern age'.

He had been renowned as a dancer during his life. The recent experience of helping and advising in the now completed production of 'his' movie, had brought back these fond memories.

He did feel 'all at sea', he had really enjoyed being the centre of attention during the filming of the movie. Perhaps the Entertainment Bar can provide a new outlet for his newly developed skills as an adviser? These dancers certainly needed his help, or so he thought. How could such an outrage be allowed to exist in the 21st Century?

With this in mind, he slivered into the back of the Entertainment Bar one Friday evening. The place was heaving. This was very much a 'Boiler Room' set. One of the best resident DJ's was pumping out a real good mix of different music styles, part Soul, Funk with elements of Samba, North African Rai. Congolese Soukous, a heavy Dub backbeat at times, plus even some Indian Bagara. All this was totally lost on the Resident Ghost. All he heard was a dreadful cacophony. This DJ did not have to rely on the insistent 'four to the floor', 'thumpta thumpta', at around 120 beats per minute all the time, if I remember. The DJ was also originally from Kenya. So the music had a nice African swing and pulse to it.

Old Slippery was at the back and was starting to absorb some of this. He had a very fine 'ear' when he was alive. He could still make no sense of all the strange equipment which the DJ and technicians were constantly fiddling with. Where were the 'real' musicians? He guessed it was something like the 'magical' movie technology. He was starting to pick out the subtle rhythmic shifts though. Old Slippery was yet again adapting to the 21st Century.