Jon's Post 5 Monkeys

Five Monkeys was the choice for week 2, and so it was off to Murray for us. The bar is located just west of state on 48th south, tucked in neatly between the miles of car dealerships and the hospital. Approaching the bar from the west, you’re treated to a full wall mural featuring five various primates, some of which were even monkeys! Upon stepping in, you get a pseudo-dive vibe. It is the kind of place you might expect to be built by someone who had never been to a dive, but only had dives described to them. The atmosphere was certainly unique. We arrived around nine thirty, which was later than we made it to A Bar Named Sue the previous week, but after a quick tour of the premises we had no trouble finding a table to sit at.

With cans of PBR in hand and a table by the door (in case the building began collapsing in a vortex of terribility) we set up shop and started people-watching. The crowd seemed in large part to follow the never-been-to-a-dive theme we picked up on entering. There were a lot of bros strutting around the place like caged roosters. Their demeanor seemed to say that they are usually better than this place, but they just wanted to slum it for a night. Given the extremely clean and well kept building, this sentiment was mildly amusing, to say the least. One such character stopped by for an intense two minute session of drunken table pounding before wandering off in search of some tail.

After a surprisingly short time at our table, one of the free pool tables vacated, and we were able to move over and start playing there. About halfway through our time there, a couple of extremely competitive looking dudes wandered over. After a few minutes of glaring over our shoulders at our amateur shot selection, one of them asked if we were playing eight ball. We were actually playing nine ball, and I chalk the glaring up to a lack of comprehension. I had not seen someone look so angry over a game they had no personal stake in before.

Shortly before we made our move to the pool table, the first band came on. The band did not exactly scream greatness to me, although it definitely did a lot of screaming. I don’t know if it was poor sound setup or just bad music, but the first band was lacking. It was also during the pool that I made the foray into the bathroom that gave me my first unequivocally positive feeling from the bar. I am a University of Utah student, and the urinals brought an instant smile to my face.

While the urinals were a chuckle, what really saved the evening for me was the second band; Kiss Me, Kill Me. Simply put the band was amazing. They were as memorable as the band last week was forgettable. They had a set of self-written music, and the one cover they used they made their own in unambiguous fashion.  I dearly hope we can plan some more outings this year around them. Between free pool I could actually play, one of the two bands being incredible, and some bathroom antics that would certainly have been great ammo for Max Hall’s tirade I would give this place a strong three steins. I add strong because I enjoyed the evening more than the night at Sue’s last week, and not just because the bar owner wasn’t trying to steal my girlfriend.

Until next week;

Jon