A visit to Commonwealth Bar
If you want to play with the big boys, you've got to bring the proper equipment. It is refreshing to see a bar open up in Calgary that is trying to do things a little different. Upon entering, it is easy to see they spared no expense during the construction of the commonwealth. It's hard to believe that this is the same space where The Warehouse once stood.
So, what does different entail? Well the clear highlight is the literal wall of sound located on the top floor, where many a band or DJ are sure to perform. Another unique feature is the smattering of found art pieces scattered throughout the various bars. Some might consider them to be a bit creepy, and they might be right, but they sure are neat to look at.
Heading downstairs you can see pig chains (that's a thing right?) lit up by dim, old-school incandesecent lights. In the downstairs bar, there is a more understated longue with a slightly strange art piece featuring a flock of crows located in the centre of the bar.
Most people don't go to bars to check out the bathroom, but the bathrooms at commonwealth are defintely unique and give off that New York subway vibe. The mensroom in particular has a communal hand washing trough, kind of like what one would see in a factory from the 1940's. I just hope that a drunken patron doesn't inadvertantly (or advertantly) take a piss in it -- a distinct possibility to be sure.
The entrance leads to the mainfloor lounge where you can sample their wide selection of beers. I tried three different beers, the IPA, a Lemon Tea beer of sorts, and another that has slipped my mind. I'm a bit of a cheap drunk these days. Anyway, my favourite was the IPA, which had a bit of lychee flavour to it along with an ass-kicking 6.9% alcohol content to boot.
As for the menu, I went for the Greens, a refreshing, asian-inspired salad consisting of snow peas, bean sprouts, tofu and wasabi peas. I'm not about to claim myself as a foodie, but it was delicious! Anyway, I think it's worth stopping by and checking it out for yourself. You can always head back to the Ship and Anchor tomorrow!
Till death bring us together?
As you can tell by my previous post, I was at the Ocuppy Calgary event this past Saturday and just across the street was the annual zombie walk. Being a man with a camera, I had to snap a couple of photos!
A few frames from Occupy Calgary
I mostly went to Occupy Calgary to take photographs and partially to see what it was all about. I did a little bit of research and it looks like a movement without any set goals yet.
It will be interesting to see how this all turns out, and this could be the youtube videos and slightly loopy documentaries talking, but the world is going to go through some serious changes in the next 5 years.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the so-called message of the Occupy ________ movment and mostly I'm worried about paying my student and car loan but it did get me to research information to help make up my own mind. And, I guess that is kind of the point.
Anyway, if you're interested in some actual information, check out some of the links I stumbled on during my web-based research. If you have any more links or information, fire off in the comments!
http://occupycalgary.ca - Main Occuppy Calgary website. Not updated that often but I guess they aren't paying people to do that
http://www.naomiklein.org - Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine has a couple of videos where she talks about Ocuppy Wall Street protests
http://inflation.us/ - I watched a couple of the Documentaries and they were interesting. Although, they have a bit of that wacky, conspiracy feel about them
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=1157133460 - Untold Wealth: The Rise of the Super Rich video put together by an evil mainstream media outlet....ewww!
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/01/the-rise-of-the-new-global-elite/8343/ -I just started reading this article by Chrystia Freeland
http://www.democracynow.org/ - Some might call this an Alternative news source. Whatever, you think about it, choice is always a good thing when it comes to news sources
http://grantneufeld.ca/ - Grant Neufeld, One of the main organizers of the peaceful protest, main website
