just short of the continent's edge, where the law only barely reaches.

step off Sanctified Savior Street and follow the chatter up the stairs...it's what you came for, right?

see, as a late-bloomer musician, I know for a fact what most folx in the field would never admit to themselves: whether people come out to one of our demonstrations isn't 100 percent up to the band...real rap, most people don't care about the band at all.

like, mathematically...think about it.

yes, we do have some actual fans--and we love 'em, they have excellent taste because the music we make is cool and good--but the reality is, people go places for the vibe, to partake in fellowship and be merry, as the kids say.

do people go to a bar for a beer or do they go for the intoxication of friendly faces?

what is "atmosphere" if not for The People...that's not exactly what Sartre said, but hey could that guy not have used a drink?

do they come to see this band specifically or do they go for store-brand "live music" and getting the good stuff is a pleasant surprise?

point is they'll STAY to hear us play...but , at least the first time, they COME to Gusto Lounge.

see, the "dive bar" has a long and colorful tradition as the meeting point of rogues, revolutionaries, and the curious onlookers they could convert...bar and band fit like glove and hand.

ol' J.P. woulda fit right in, the ethical mf...on the right night it's the kind of place Hemingway would have pickled himself in, that might gently drag HST from under the couch in the morning and take him for breakfast burritos...I could totally see Sergio doing that, actually.

it's always a fun transformation...as the band's lighting tech (and Grand Chieftain of Job Titles) I love turning the place into the neon-pink fever dream we most often perform within...the bar's dim lighting and low ceilings only enhance the effect.

never do I feel at more liberty to speak in a public setting than here.

now, The Envelope could definitely stand to gain unos pesos...but that's a pretty universal complaint among musicians, people can't even have their funerals without having us around in some form but nobody wants to pay.

besides, Gusto is as much of an after-hours community center as it is a bar...sort of a loose and lawless place, where the human animal is invited to be a bit of both. cheapest drinks in town, naturally by design.

part church, part pool hall, part Mos Eisley Cantina...the type of place where ambitious drunks such as myself loudly whisper their dreams of a better world...and maybe just maybe pour a bit of concrete underneath.

Gusto Lounge is not a place of expectations, but of experiences. 

tomorrow night is your chance to have one. have another, if the spirit moves you. have maybe a few too many...why not, it's Friday!

a night to inscribe your name, your story, your whole deal among the legends and lyrics and lies scrawled on just about every surface of our local parliamentary house.

the walls of Gusto talk, and oh what interesting things it has to say. let's all have a nice long conversation tomorrow night.

all power to The People.

--Flor!